Polypropylene Recycling Coalition awards seven grants

The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, has announced its fourth round of grant funding through its Polypropylene Recycling Coalition totaling nearly $1.6 million and bringing the number of grant recipients to 20. These funds will improve curbside polypropylene (PP) recycling access for approximately 6.9 percent of U.S. households when combined with prior grants, according to the organization.

Launched in July 2020, the coalition is a cross-industry effort supported by steering committee members Keurig Dr Pepper, Braskem, NextGen Consortium and the Walmart Foundation, along with other members of the PP value chain.

Through this latest round of grant funding, seven material recovery facilities (MRFs) across the U.S. will be able to boost PP sorting and support recycling education efforts. The Recycling Partnership says these investments will increase the PP recovery by an estimated 22 million pounds annually. PP, sometimes referred to as No. 5, is increasingly used for various food and nonfood packaging and is estimated to be the third-most-prominent plastic in the residential recycling stream.

Sarah Dearman, vice president of Circular Ventures at The Recycling Partnership, says, “The impact the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition has made in just under two years to improve recycling for approximately 7.2 million households in America is an incredible effort in driving rapid and measurable change. This outcome highlights the power of collaboration, especially when combined with the strategic expertise of the Partnership team. This is the type of meaningful investment all materials need to improve their packaging circularity.”

Seven MRFs were awarded funding in this round:

• Napa Recycling in Napa, California;
• Cedar Ave. Recycling and Transfer Station in Fresno, California;
• SOCRRA in Troy, Michigan;
• Republic Services in Oberlin, Ohio;
• Baltimore County in Maryland;
• Recycle Ann Arbor in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and
• City of Phoenix (incremental funding provided by Keurig Dr Pepper).

The combined geographic reach of the first four rounds of grantees includes MRFs across the northern, southern, eastern and western regions of the U.S. Previous recipients include Rumpke Waste & Recycling in Cincinnati, which added Machinex SamurAI robots; Dem-Con Cos. in Shakopee, Minnesota; and Mazza Recycling in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, which added optical sorters supplied by Van Dyk Recycling Solutions.

The coalition continues to accept grant applications to further its efforts to advance PP recycling and reduce plastic waste. The next grant proposal request is due May 31.