GFL Environmental Inc., a waste and recycling services provider based in Vaugh, Ontario, has announced the formation of the Resource Recovery Alliance (RRA) in response to Ontario's extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulation requiring product and packaging producers to operate and fully finance Ontario's Blue Box program. RRA will become a producer responsibility organization (PRO) under the new legislation and will be vertically integrated within GFL's service offerings. 

GFL also has announced that RRA has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA), which is an organization that provides support services for packaging and printed paper stewardship organizations across Canada. RRA says it will be a comprehensive resource recovery and compliance solution for producers in North America. The group will use GFL's existing capabilities in the collection, sorting, processing, marketing and reporting of Blue Box material in Ontario. 

"Ontario has ushered in a new wave of extended producer responsibility in Canada, bringing increased responsibilities for producers, along with new opportunities to innovate and drive greater efficiencies and environmental outcomes," says Patrick Dovigi, GFL founder and CEO. "RRA will combine GFL's extensive international footprint and depth of experience in North America's resource recovery sector with CSSA's leadership in compliance and administration of recycling programs across Canada. CSSA's in-depth understanding of producers and the new and much more rigorous regulatory needs makes them an ideal partner for GFL in the creation of this PRO."

According to a news release from GFL, producers will get a proven, reliable and experienced environmental services partner that can leverage economies of scale and efficiencies. This will allow producers to meet their responsibilities under the modern and consolidated Blue Box Program, which will phase in between 2023 and 2025.

"RRA will bring the experience and expertise of GFL, CSSA and producers together and provide consumer brands with sustainable solutions they can trust," Dovigi says. "RRA will establish a Producer Alliance Council and directly involve producers in designing the new program. RRA will work collaboratively with the council to identify, define, monitor and meet the new and ambitious program expansion, standardization and recovery targets designated by the government of Ontario." 

"This new model of resource recovery announced by the government of Ontario will be a catalyst for change in the province and other jurisdictions across the country looking at extended producer responsibility programs," says John Coyne, CSSA Executive Chair. "GFL's coast-to-coast operations and diversified service offerings coupled with CSSA's compliance and administration expertise presented an exemplary partnership opportunity. Together, we will support producers in meeting their new obligations in Ontario while also ensuring seamless transition and harmonization with new EPR regimes anywhere in Canada, and North America, in the future."

The acquisition of CSSA, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, GFL says.

Recycling technology and equipment provider Tomra says it has worked with United Kingdom-based consultancy Eunomia on a study that has identified the potential for a globally “optimized” waste management and recycling system that could reduce the output of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by 2.76 billion metric tons annually.

Tomra and Eunomia point to an “optimized combination of key waste management practices for collection, sorting and recycling” they say can help prevent resource depletion, reduce littering and contribute to a carbon-neutral world.

The firms include extended producer responsibility (EPR) methods, deposit-return or bottle bill systems, and optimal collection and sorting practices as key contributors to an “efficient and cost-effective holistic system.”

Deposit-return systems for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and metal beverage containers that can create return rates of more than 90 percent “should play a central role in such a system,” say the two companies.

The study finds some materials are best off collected separately, including “biowaste, paper, textiles, and electrical and electronic equipment.” The white paper concludes “the rest should remain in a mixed waste stream [that] can be most efficiently separated into reusable materials for further recycling.”

The combination of collection and sorting best practices “will enable regionally customized holistic models to cut global CO₂ emissions by up to five percent - the equivalent of grounding all commercial flights globally and taking 65 percent of cars off the road,” say Tomra and Eunomia.

“Now is the time for real action to ensure societies stop wasting resources with all the related negative consequences,” says Volker Rehrmann of Tomra Recycling. “In many places, the pandemic helped to meet Paris Climate Agreement goals. But even maintaining this level will require determined and consistent implementation, including holistic systems, to close the loops.”

The incineration or landfilling of plastics and other high-carbon materials generates unnecessary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the study.

In the white paper, Tomra points to its customer IVAR and its facility that serves the Stavanger, Norway, area. The material recovery facility (MRF) system there is a “fully automated mixed waste sorting plant, including brand new facilities for plastics reprocessing and paper sorting,” says Tomra. “As of 2021, the IVAR [system] ranks first in Norway in post-consumer plastic packaging collection rates,” adds the company.

The white paper resulting from the Tomra-Eunomia study can be found on this web page.

Stadler, a recycling equipment manufacturer based in Germany, has signed an agreement with Orizon Valorização de Resíduos to build a large mechanical sorting plant in Brazil. The plant is expected to process 500,000 metric tons of mixed recyclable materials per year.

According to a news release from Stadler, this agreement with Orizon Valorização de Resíduos represents what it calls “a technological breakthrough” in the operations of the Jaboatão dos Guararapes Ecopark in Pernambuco, northeast Brazil, which will allow a greater reuse of recyclable waste. In 2020, the plant received 1.5 million metric tons of material, equivalent to the waste generated by 3.7 million people.

“The agreement also sets an example of the management and use of technology for the sector,” says Alexandre Citvaras, director of business development at Orizon Valorização de Resíduos.

Stadler reports that it has designed and implemented the entire project with two objectives: to modernize and to strengthen Orizon’s plant for the sorting process and select the recoverable products with the highest value to serve demanding domestic and international markets.

“Our biggest challenge has been to design a sorting process with proven technology that increases the efficiency of the waste treatment at the Jaboatão dos Guararapes Ecopark,” Citvaras adds. “With this machinery, we will achieve a sorting efficiency ranging from 75 percent to 85 percent of the economically viable recyclable material. It is a breakthrough in our operations, which have gained in productivity and will play a key environmental role by returning materials to the production chain, helping to move us towards a true circular economy.”

He says the new plant is expected to begin operations in 2022 and will employ 150 people.

Henrique Filgueiras, Stadler’s sales representative in Brazil, says the agreement will strengthen Stadler’s relationship with Orizon, a company that Stadler has worked with for about seven years. He adds that Orizon’s new plant has a high capacity for processing municipal solid waste (MSW).

The plant has been designed to process a large volume of material with the initial separation of the coarse and heavy fraction through mechanical sorting and final separation of the fines by hand. The plant layout envisages the possibility of extending the line to increase capacity as well as increasing the automation of its process.

Orizon Valorização de Resíduos operates five ecoparks in Brazil, and its waste management and processing facilities receive approximately 4.6 million metric tons of waste per year, serving approximately 20 million people and more than 500 business customers.

The Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Washington, has selected nine college-bound students as winners for its annual academic scholarship program. PSI received 45 applications from students related to employees at 17 PSI member companies.

PSI reports that it has awarded $25,000 in scholarships this year, including one $5,000 grand-prize scholarship and eight $2,500 merit scholarships. Winning students are allowed to apply the scholarships toward tuition at any regionally accredited two-year or four-year postsecondary school for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Nathan Dummitt received PSI’s $5,000 grand-prize scholarship. He will be attending the Georgia Institute of Technology for the 2021-2022 academic year. Dummitt’s sponsoring ISRI/PSI Chapter member company is Graphic Packaging International.

According to PSI, this year’s $2,500 merit scholarship winners, along with their sponsoring ISRI/PSI Chapter member company and location and the school they will attend, are as follows:

• Jaden Johns, International Paper (Houston, Mississippi), Mississippi State University;
• Abigail Kodidek, Graphic Packaging International (Atlanta), University of Chicago;
• Rory Perkins, Sims Metal Management (New York), Washington University in St. Louis;
• Tripp Ragans, Wilmington Paper Corp. (Pine Brook, New Jersey), Florida State University;
• Ileana Rodriguez, Pioneer Industries International (Dallas), Haverford College;
• Elizabeth Stricklin, Schnitzer Southeast (Attalla, Alabama), Auburn University;
• Julia Williams, WestRock Recycling (Tucker, Georgia), University of Miami; and
• Rhiannon Wimer, Graphic Packaging International (Macon, Georgia), Bucknell University.
  

The PSI Chapter has been awarding academic scholarships on an annual basis for more than 20 years. The submission requirements and application for the 2022 scholarships will be posted later this year at paperstockindustries.org. For more information on the PSI Chapter scholarship program and this year’s winners, contact Nini Krever at 561-762-7574 or nktraders@tradersintl.net.