Pellenc ST America, the U.S. subsidiary of the French company Pellenc ST, hosted an open house May 30 at its offices in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event gave the company the opportunity to introduce its optical sorting technology and team to attendees.

Pellenc ST America’s partners, clients and friends attended the open house, which began at noon with lunch provided by a food truck waiting outside the company’s office.

Two hours of technical sessions followed that featured four modules lasting 30 minutes each:

1. Mistral+ full package sorting machine;
2. project management;
3. service; and
4. Harvin Augmented Reality technology.

Pellenc ST America says the technical modules allowed the company to introduce its technology, equipment and team to attendees, helping guests to understand the value and service the company brings to the waste sorting and recycling industry.

Guests then visited Top Golf in Charlotte before finishing the day with dinner at The Capital Grille.

U.K.-based RECOUP (RECycling of Used Plastics Ltd.), which is leading a cross-industry forum addressing the barriers to and improving the recycling of black plastic packaging, has published a report on its progress since the forum was set up at the end of 2017.

It was clear from the forum’s inception that while pressure was growing, research and developments so far had not led to any practical improvements in the recyclability of black plastic, RECOUP says.

The forum focused on sorting and reprocessing black and other undetectable colored plastic packaging. The work established that a number of solutions are available or in development, including use of transparent packaging or alternative colors that are detectable using optical sorting, use of detectable black pigments and development of sorting technology for the existing carbon black packaging.

Stuart Foster, RECOUP CEO, says, “Despite the inevitable politics and positioning behind issues such as black plastic packaging recycling, our role at RECOUP is to bring the various groups and stakeholders together to make practical steps forward. I hope we have helped to avoid knee-jerk reactions to the challenge of improving plastic recycling potential and instead have turned ambitions and collaborative thinking into actual long-term solutions.”

The report highlights a range of ongoing individual and collective actions, which are expected to cut the undetectable black packaging coming into the market by two-thirds by the end 2019, RECOUP says. Given one solution is detectable black pigment, it also appears that specifically excluding or highlighting black packaging as a problem color will no longer be valid.

Paul East, RECOUP packaging technologist and project leader, says, “We appreciate it can take time to deliver the changes needed to improve recyclability, but there is no reason why all plastic packaging can't adopt the basic principle that it must not inhibit the sorting or recycling process as part of the design specifications. As shown in the new report, removing or coming out of black in favor of a transparent pack or detectable color has been seen as the quickest solution in many cases and therefore most popular. To balance this, the report also includes the potentially important role of black and darker plastic as a base color as we move towards the requirement for greater recycled content.”

Although some of the work is still ongoing, the report provides an overview of the options, including details of a range of independent projects undertaken in 2019.

The full report is available to download on the RECOUP website at www.recoup.org/p/275/publications. This and many other topics will be discussed and debated at the next RECOUP Plastics Recycling Conference, Sept. 26 at KingsGate Conference Centre, Peterborough.

St. Petersburg, Florida-based Jabil Packaging Solutions (JPS), a division of Jabil Inc., has introduced a new suite of sustainable packaging services that aid packaged goods brands in designing and delivering new sustainable packaging formats into the marketplace.

“For CPGs (consumer packaged goods), there has never been a bigger challenge than the transition to a truly sustainable business model,” says Jason Paladino, JPS vice president of technology. “Managing this shift and truly achieving sustainability goals requires a new level of partnership and collaboration across the supply chain. As a custom packaging solutions provider with a rich history of transformational brand equity packaging, we are uniquely positioned to work intimately with brands to solve these challenges at speed while reducing complexity and mitigating risks.”

JPS says it sustainable packaging services accelerate new product development while reducing the risk associated with developing new sustainable packaging formats. The service offering concentrates on three areas: 

• Design for sustainability – Drive faster time to market and eco-friendly validation with a proven design innovation process.
• Sustainable packaging assessment – Iteratively assess key sustainability factors, such as carbon footprint and recyclability, in parallel with critical new product introduction requirements.
• Materials sourcing and development – Introduce holistic procurement strategies that consider price, supply chain optimization and performance.

The new suite of sustainable packaging services will enable customers in the food and beverage, home care, personal care and professional care sectors to work with a single packaging innovation leader with expertise in all areas of sustainable packaging development, the company says. By working with JPS, CPGs will be able to eliminate the need to coordinate multiple suppliers, design houses and converters, drive cycles of design iteration and carbon impact assessment from ideation to delivery and assure that new custom packaging formats leverage industry accepted sustainable design guidelines by using packaging life cycle analysis software to support achievement of corporate sustainability goals and leveraging the intelligence gained from performance testing of all commercially available sustainable materials.

US Ecology Inc., Boise, Idaho, announced June 24 that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with NRC Group Holdings Corp. (NRCG), a Houston-based provider of compliance and waste management services to the marine and rail transportation, general industrial and energy industries. The agreement was comprised of an all-stock transaction with an enterprise value of $966 million. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019 and is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, respective stockholder approvals and other customary closing conditions.

“The addition of NRCG’s substantial service network strengthens and expands US Ecology’s suite of environmental services,” Jeffrey Feeler, president, CEO and chairman of US Ecology, says. “This transaction will establish US Ecology as a leader in standby and emergency response services and adds a new waste vertical in oil and gas exploration and production landfill disposal to further drive waste volumes throughout the Gulf region.”

NRCG is one of two leading national Oil Spill Removal Organizations (OSRO) that provide mandated standby emergency response for the transportation of oil products. With more than 50 service centers, NRCG has a national service network providing emergency and spill response, light industrial services, hazardous and industrial waste management and transportation services. From a growing base of disposal assets in the two key oil basins in the Gulf region, the Permian and the Eagle Ford, NRCG provides landfill disposal of waste from oil and gas drilling, treatment and handling of residual waste streams and rental and transportation services to support its disposal operations.

“NRCG will bring highly complementary services and customers to US Ecology and will position the combined company as a leading player in industrial waste management while strengthening its position in the overall environmental services market,” Christian Swinbank, president and CEO of NRCG, says. “We believe the combination will provide compelling upside for stockholders of both companies.”

The transaction has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors. Upon completion of the transaction, US Ecology stockholders will own approximately 70 percent of the combined company, and NRCG stockholders will own approximately 30 percent on a fully diluted basis. The combined company will use the US Ecology name, and its shares will continue to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker ECOL. Feeler will continue to serve as president, CEO and chairman of the board of directors. The company will maintain its headquarters in Boise, Idaho, with regional support centers in Boise, Detroit, New York and Houston.