First Star Recycling installs sorting equipment to improve UBC recovery

First Star Recycling, an Omaha, Nebraska-based recycling and manufacturing company, is installing new sorting equipment at its material recovery facility (MRF) in Omaha with the intention of recovering used beverage cans (UBCs) previously missorted at the site.

The Washington-based Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) is funding the equipment as part of its efforts to recover more UBCs at MRFs. CMI has leveraged the value of UBCs to finance can-capture equipment while making some or all the money back by receiving a share of the revenue generated from the cans captured.

CMI members Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) and Crown Holdings provided funding for the first two revenue share agreements: EverestLabs robots were installed on the last-chance recovery line at an LRS MRF in Chicago and a Caglia Environmental MRF in Fresno, California. Both MRFs agreed to share 50 percent of the revenue from the cans captured with the robots.

The latest revenue share agreement is for a Green Machine eddy current to be installed at the First Star’s Omaha MRF, which serves all of Nebraska and parts of Iowa and South Dakota, too. This eddy current was paid for with funding from AMP and Crown, as well as the revenue received from the first two revenue share agreements, and is expected to recover 3 million UBCs annually that previously were missorted.

The new eddy current, which is expected to be installed before the end of the year, will be the second in the facility and will be placed on the fiber line. In some cases, beverage cans are missorted to the fiber line if they are flattened or make it past the fiber line’s optical sorter. First Star Recycling anticipates the second eddy current will capture 50 tons of UBCs per year.

“Investing in can capture equipment is a key component of our broader commitment to increasing recycling rates and improving the can-to-can loop,” says Sandrine Duquerroy-Delesalle, vice president of global sustainability and external affairs at Crown. “By prioritizing the recovery of infinitely recyclable aluminum, we help reduce unnecessary landfill waste and increase the beverage can’s current average recycled content of 71 percent, ultimately contributing to a lower carbon footprint for the U.S. beverage can manufacturing industry.”

Once the principal is paid back to CMI, no more payments are required, and First Star Recycling will then own the equipment to continue using the eddy current to capture even more UBCs.

“We are very excited to have this equipment, at no up-front cost to us, to capture even more aluminum beverage cans, which are a key material grade for any recycling program,” First Star Recycling CEO Patrick Leahy says. “We are comfortable sharing 50 percent of the revenue from the cans captured with this equipment and guaranteeing full payback of the principal because we are confident the equipment will pay for itself. And it feels like a way to more than pay it back but pay it forward so CMI can help even more communities capture more cans.”

Financing can-capture equipment to recycle missorted cans is one of the four pillars of action CMI has set to achieve its beverage can recycling rate targets.

“While CMI and its members are proud that the aluminum beverage can is consistently the most recycled beverage container in the United States, we are committed to reaching new heights,” CMI President Scott Breen says. “Programs like revenue share agreements for can capture equipment result in millions of additional cans recycled and deliver a high return on investment.”