Unifi Inc., Greensboro, North Carolina, has announced the winners of its inaugural Repreve Champions of Sustainability awards. The awards acknowledge companies that make their products with Repreve fibers, which are made from recycled materials, including plastic bottles.

The 2017 winners of the Repreve Champions of Sustainability awards were announced at the 2018 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Denver, Jan. 25-28.

“Unifi created the Repreve Champions of Sustainability awards to recognize our brand and textile partners that have achieved plastic bottle recycling milestones as a result of their use of Repreve performance fibers,” says Kevin Hall, Unifi chairman and CEO. “We are proud to honor companies that exemplify leadership in sustainability and are among those that have contributed to the more than 10 billion bottles that Unifi has recycled so far. We look forward to recognizing even more companies in the future as we work toward our goal of recycling 30 billion bottles by 2022.”

Twenty-five brand and retail partners that have each used the equivalent of 10 million or more bottles, and 15 textile partners that have each used the equivalent of 50 million or more bottles, through the use of Repreve fiber were honored. A list of award recipients can be found by visiting repreve.com/champions.

“More than 70 percent of plastic bottles in the United States end up in a landfill,” says Hall. “By creating these awards, we hope to inspire designers, customers and consumers to continue to invest in sustainability, and that together we can make everyday life better by transforming recycled plastic bottles into the products consumers use every day.”

In addition to the bottle awards, Unifi also has introduced four special category awards:

• Repreve Partners in Innovation recognizes companies using Repreve in a way that’s unique to the market.
• Repreve Circular Economy recognizes companies demonstrating best-in-class use of the closed loop concept, which aims to eliminate waste throughout the product life cycle.
• Repreve Newcomer recognizes key companies that started using Repreve in the past year.
• Repreve All-In recognizes companies that integrated Repreve into their entire product line from the beginning of the partnership.

To craft the actual awards, Unifi partnered with The Olio, a nonprofit organization based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that focuses on teaching and empowerment through entrepreneurship, glassblowing, art and sustainable solutions. Each custom crafted award is blown by hand from glass recycled from area restaurants and bars, and sits on a base made from recycled aluminum and reclaimed wood, Unifi explains.

Unifi announced in late 2017 that it had recycled more than 10 billion plastic bottles as of 2017 and has a target to recycle 20 billion bottles by 2020 and 30 billion bottles by 2022.

A 160-page report released in January 2018 by the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) expresses numerous concerns about China’s trade policies, with scrap materials among the many sectors mentioned. (A link to the full report can be found toward the bottom of this web page.) 

In a section of the report on China’s import licensing policies, the USTR report authors write, “A variety of specific compliance issues continue to arise. In 2017, these included a new import ban on recoverable wastes [plus] the administration of the tariff-rate quota system for fertilizer [and] the administration of the tariff-rate quota system for certain agricultural commodities.”

Later, in a section on Standards, Technical Regulations and Conformity Assessment Procedures, a five-paragraph subsection on an “Import Ban on Recoverable Materials” provides greater detail.

Recounting the Chinese Ministry of Environment and Protection (MEP) July 2017 notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) about a ban on two dozen types of scrap imports, the USTR writes, “The comment periods provided by China were less than the 60 days required by the TBT [Technical Barriers to Trade] Agreement, and the timeframe for implementation was less than six months.”

Addressing new scrap contamination thresholds announced by the MEP later in 2017, the USTR authors write, “It does not appear that similar restrictions apply to domestically sourced recoverable wastes or recovered materials.”

Regarding the potential extent of the economic harm, USTR adds, “U.S. exports to China of the recoverable wastes or recovered materials covered by the measures totaled $479 million in 2016. U.S. stakeholders expect the measures to have significant negative impact on those exports. In 2018, the United States will continue to urge China to reconsider its approach.”

Throughout the 160-page report, the authors point to rules created by China’s State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) as having consistently resulted in barriers for companies exporting goods to China.

Contrary to WTO rules, according to the USTR, “U.S. exporters representing several sectors continue to report that China’s regulatory requirements are not enforced as strictly or uniformly against domestic producers as compared to foreign producers.”

The USTR continues, “Concern has grown over the past few years that China seems to be actively pursuing the development of unique requirements, despite the existence of well-established international standards, as a means for protecting domestic companies from competing foreign standards and technologies.”

That mirrors the argument being made by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) about the new contamination levels applied only to imported scrap by the Chinese government, which are far stricter than standards in the rest of the world.

The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), Brattleboro, Vermont, has announced details for its Spring Workshop—Markets or Bust—set for April 3, 2018, at the Sheraton Baltimore Washington Airport Hotel in Maryland. The event will focus on recycling market issues and market development opportunities.

The keynote address will be presented by Myles Cohen, president of Pratt Recycling, the recycling division of Conyers, Georgia-based Pratt Industries Inc. Cohen also serves as president of the Paper Stock Industries (PSI), a national chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington. Cohen’s presentation—Is Curbside Recycling in Jeopardy?—will dive into the impacts that increased contamination issues and China’s import restrictions are having on recycling markets, and ways to “save” and preserve curbside recycling programs.

Secretary Ben Grumbles of the Maryland Department of the Environment will open the event with welcoming remarks.

NERC says its Spring Workshop will provide attendees with information and discussions about key market issues for the paper, plastic, glass and organic sectors; recycling market development opportunities; interactive sessions that illustrate industry sector market scenarios; and networking with government, industry, nonprofits, consultants and universities.

The Spring Workshop is intended for emerging and seasoned professionals in sustainable materials management—municipal, county and state offices dealing with recycling; university sustainability coordinators; businesses involved in recycling—haulers, processors and manufacturers; nonprofits; and consultants.

For more information, visit NERC’s website.

NERC is a nonprofit organization that conducts research, projects, training, and outreach on issues associated with source reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and environmentally preferable purchasing.

A fire that started the morning of Jan. 28 at Willimantic Waste Paper Co., Willimantic, Connecticut, has forced schools and roads to close, with firefighters anticipating it will take days to completely extinguish, according to a report in The Hartford Courant.

The destructive fire has been declared under control, the article reports, and it is not expected to spread any further, said Windham Fire Chief Marc Scrivener.

The fire started around 10:13 a.m. Sunday in a 50-ton stockpile of wood, plaster and construction debris at Willimantic Waste, a family-owned business that collects and processes waste, recyclables and construction debris in Tolland, Hartford, Middlesex, Windham and New London counties, according to the company’s website.

Officials told The Hartford Courant Monday morning that the company, which has 350 employees, will proceed with waste and recycling pickup as scheduled.

Nearly 200 firefighters spent hours Sunday battling the blaze, the article reports, which officials said went to four alarms. One firefighter had to be treated for exhaustion, and town schools, as well as Eastern Connecticut State University, closed for the day, the article reports.

Willimantic Waste Paper was one of more than 20 companies that purchased a single-ram, no-shear Bollegraaf baler from Van Dyk Recycling Solutions (VDRS), Stamford, Connecticut, in 2017, according to a list the company released in December 2017.