Electronic Recyclers International, Fresno, California, has announced a name change to ERI.

ERI Chairman and CEO John Shegerian says the rebranding effort is a response to the company’s services expanding beyond electronics recycling to include recovery, reporting and regulatory guidance. 

“While we do still lead the nation in the recycling of electronics and e-waste, the shortening of our name to ERI reflects the tremendous growth in our capabilities over the last several years and that we are leading the charge in so much more than recycling now,” says Shegerian.

He continues, “Whether it is recommerce, recovery, reporting, recycling or regulatory guidance, the ‘R’ in our name applies to our multiple service offerings. We are also leaders in the ITAD (information technology asset disposition) space for secure data destruction and hardware data security, which has become a huge part of what we do.”

Shegerian notes that ERI currently provides the only dually certified nationwide solution offering 100 percent data destruction for consumer electronics devices, e-scrap and hardware.

ERI also has successfully achieved achieved AAA Certification for data destruction from the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), Phoenix, for its facilities in California, Colorado, Indiana and Massachusetts. ERI says its goal is to have all of its locations NAID certified by January 2017.

In keeping with the name change, ERI has launched a new URL for its website and online identity and branding, anchored by its ERIdirect.com moniker. Anyone can reach ERI by visiting www.eridirect.com or by calling 1-800-ERI-DIRECT.

“It’s a natural shift for us to make as we enter a new phase of growth,” says Shegerian. “The vast majority of our customers, partners and the public at large refer to us as ‘ERI’ anyway. We’ve made the acronym official—and it’s a name we are all proud of for what it represents in terms of innovation and doing things the right way.”

ERI is a leading recycler of electronic waste in the U.S. and the world's largest ITAD and cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company. The company is certified to demanufacture and recycle every type of e-waste in an environmentally friendly manner. The company processes more than 275 million pounds of e-scrap annually at eight locations, serving every zip code in the United States. 

Atlanta-based Rubicon Global, a provider of cloud-based waste and recycling solutions, has announced that co-founder Marc Spiegel has been named to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “40 Under 40” list for 2016.

Spiegel is a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and comes from four generations of waste and recycling hauling experience. In addition to overall strategy, Spiegel oversees the hauler/vendor management team at Rubicon Global, which helps businesses reduce operating expenses, implement recycling programs and save money by finding new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle waste.

“Marc and the Rubicon team were all concerned by the woefully under-evolved nature of waste and hauling and became inspired to build a company that would use both technology and innovative thinking to change the industry,” says Rubicon CEO Nate Morris. “Marc is a great leader and friend, and in addition to his work at Rubicon, he finds time to both mentor growing Atlanta startup companies as well as work on a social entrepreneurship program with the Weber School in Atlanta.”

Spiegel says, “My grandfather—a charter member of the National Solid Waste and Recycling Association Hall of Fame—told me, ‘Don’t be content doing things the way they’ve always been done.’”

He continues, “That always stuck with me. Nate and I were determined to use technology to bridge the gap and force the industry to find a better way to serve businesses, consumers and the environment.”

The Atlanta Business Chronicle honored the 2016 “40 Under 40” class Thursday, Nov. 3 at American Spirit Works in Atlanta.

Rubicon Global is a worldwide leader in sustainable, cloud-based waste and recycling solutions. Using its proprietary technology-enabled platform, the company provides comprehensive waste stream solutions that enable companies to reduce operating expenses and implement recycling programs.

The diversified global packaging company Sonoco, headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina, has acquired Plastic Packaging Inc. (PPI), a privately held Hickory, North Carolina-based flexible packaging company.

Founded in 1957, PPI specializes in short-run, customized flexible packaging for consumer brands in markets including:

• food products (i.e., frozen foods, baked goods and seafood);
• pet products (i.e., dry food, bird seed and litter);
• confection (i.e., seasonal promotions, heat-sealed chocolate packaging, and hard and soft candy); and
• health and personal care (i.e., nutraceuticals, diapers, tissues and wipes).

Through the acquisition, Sonoco says it gains additional lamination, wide and narrow web flexographic printing and pouch and bag forming capabilities that will allow the company to better serve its current customers while expanding its customer base.

“This acquisition grows our flexible packaging assets in the Southeast U.S., adding short-run capabilities that allow us to offer additional specialty and customization capabilities to our customers,” says Rob Tiede, Sonoco senior vice president for global consumer solutions. “PPI complements Sonoco’s existing technologies and leverages our expertise in flexible packaging, while expanding our customer base in complementary markets.”

PPI says it expects 2016 sales of approximately $42 million and operates two manufacturing facilities in Hickory and in Forest City, North Carolina, with approximately 170 employees.

Founded in 1899, Sonoco is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of nearly $5 billion, the company has 20,800 employees working in more than 300 operations in 35 countries.

Photo: Shutterstock

The 2015 U.S. plastic bottle recycling rate posted a slight decrease of 0.5 percent compared with 2014, according to figures released by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) in the 26th annual “National Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report,” available at https://plastics.americanchemistry.com/2015-United-States-National-Postconsumer-Plastic-Bottle-Recycling-Report.pdf.  The overall U.S. recycling rate for plastic bottles in 2015 was 31.1 percent, down slightly from 31.7 percent the previous year, according to the report.

Since 2010 plastic bottle recycling has grown by nearly 400 million pounds, increasing on average by nearly 80 million pounds per year, or 2.9 percent annually, the ACC and APR say.

Following 25 consecutive years of growth, several factors contributed to the recent plateau, the associations say, including a decline in material collected for recycling, reduced exports and increased contamination of recyclables. In addition, use of plastic bottles in packaging applications continued to expand but was offset by lightweighting and increased use of concentrates with smaller, lighter bottles.

In 2015, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling decreased by 15 million pounds, while collection of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles, which includes bottles for milk, household cleaners and detergents, dipped slightly by 0.4 percent, or 4.8 million pounds, at just over 1.1 billion pounds for the year. The recycling rate for HDPE bottles declined 0.4 percent to 34.4 percent.

Domestic processing of recycled HDPE continued to grow for the fifth consecutive year, according to the report. Domestic reclaimers processed more than 1 billion pounds in 2015, an increase of 4.4 percent. Total domestic capacity to process postconsumer HDPE grew to 1.46 billion pounds, with reclaimers continuing to use assets to process nonbottle HDPE and polypropylene (PP).

Exports of HDPE fell 16 percent to 184 million pounds, while imports rose by 25 percent to nearly 66 million pounds. Given steady domestic collection, these trends resulted in U.S. reclamation plants purchasing nearly 44 million pounds in additional material, the report notes. Domestic reclaimers purchased more than 1 billion pounds of postconsumer HDPE for the year.

“The plastics recycling industry has a history of growth that spans a quarter century and has weathered many factors,” says Steve Alexander, executive director of APR. “As a result of expanded infrastructure and demand, this industry remains well-positioned for long-term growth.”

Steve Russell, ACC vice president of plastics, says, “All of us should remain diligent in recycling our plastics. Putting the right materials into the bin helps make processing more efficient, which supports the long-term growth and stability of plastics recycling.”

This year’s survey also found the collection of PP bottles rose nearly 20 percent to reach 32 million pounds, with the PP collection rate increasing to nearly 18 percent. PP caps, closures and nonbottle containers are widely collected for recycling in the United States, and these data are presented in a separate report on recycling nonbottle rigid plastics, which will be released in the coming months.

PET and HDPE bottles combined make up 97 percent of the U.S. market for plastic bottles, with PP comprising 1.8 percent, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) representing 0.8 percent and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) representing 0.3 percent, the report states.  

The 2015 report reflects minor corrections in methodology for PP and HDPE in 2104 and 2015, the ACC and APR note. Details on the corrections are provided in the introduction.

Data on PET recycling referenced in the report were separately funded and published by APR and the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR). A separate report, “Report on PET Container Recycling Activity in 2015,” is available on APR’s website at www.plasticsrecycling.org/images/pdf/resources/reports/APR_NAPCOR_2015RateReportFINAL.pdf.

The 2015 United States National Postconsumer Plastic Bottle Recycling Report is based on a survey of reclaimers conducted by Moore Recycling Associates Inc. of Sonoma, California.

Resources for municipal recyclers are available at www.recycleyourplastics.org and at www.plasticsrecycling.org. An informational webinar about the report will be held Monday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. EST. Those interested in attending can register at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8457610939930067457.