While the value of public awareness and education in regard to increasing recycling rates across the nation has been a hot topic among the industry for some time, some recyclers are turning their focus to packaging producers.
Al Metauro, CEO of Toronto-based Cascades Recovery as well as Green by Nature EPR, a British Columbia-based company that provides complete recovery and recycling services to its printed paper and packaging diversion clients, is one recycler who has recognized the growing responsibilities of packing producers. Metauro was one of three keynote speakers in the session “The Future of the Recycling and Packaging Industry” at the 2014 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference, which is taking place in Chicago Oct. 8-10.
“We’re all working toward the same goal: to divert materials from landfill,” Metauro said.
To accomplish this to a greater extent, he said companies like Green by Nature EPR are implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs for packaging. EPR programs shift responsibility for recycling to the producers who created them.
Metauro explained Green by Nature EPR’s most recent feat—managing the postcollection system for British Columbia-based Multi-Material BC’s (MMBC’s) residential packaging and printed paper recycling program, which serves about 1.25 million households.
MMBC is among more than 20 EPR programs introduced in British Columbia over the past two decades that have seen industry assume responsibility for end-of-life management of items such as beverage containers, electronics, paint, used oil, tires and batteries.
Now about five months into the role, Metauro said Green by Nature EPR is responsible for managing the processing and marketing of about 185,000 metric tons of packaging and printed paper material after it has been collected curbside from households, multifamily buildings and collection centers throughout the province. “The producers assume responsibility for the recycling of printed paper and packaging,” Metauro said, asking, “Are we ready? From a producer standpoint the answer is, No.”
Metauro said the recycling industry has seen a “tremendous change” in the composition of packaging. He showed the audience photos of packaged spaghetti sauce: in one photo the spaghetti sauce was packaged in a metal can, while today the same product is sold in a plastic pouch. While the consumer and brand owner might like the updated pouch material, the material recovery facility (MRF) operators who have historically relied on recovering more traditional materials might not be happy, he said.
“We’re actually going to work with producers so the public believes in the product, and when the public is done with the package, they’ll know we want it back,” Metauro said.
Metauro’s outlook was shared by Bridget Croke, the second keynote speaker at Wednesday’s late afternoon session. Croke is with the Closed Loop Fund, an initiative spearheaded by Wal-Mart and supported by major corporate funding sources, including Campbell Soup Co., Cargill, General Mills, Monsanto, Kellogg Co., PepsiCo, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Unilever and Wal-Mart itself. The goal of the initiative is to make recycling collection more widely available to Americans by investing some $100 million in collection infrastructure projects.
Croke said, “The goal is to ensure all consumer products and packaging is recycled and returned for use in manufacturing new items.” The fund is being allocated in three areas: collections, processing facilities and emerging technologies, she said.
She pointed out that the Closed Loop Fund serves as a “complementary approach” to what is being accomplished in British Columbia, with the pooling of numerous companies coming together to increase recycling rates and use more recycled materials in their packaging.
While consumer goods companies and retailers are creating economic value by increasing recycling rates, Croke said, there are extensive, inherent issues within the recycling industry today.
One major obstacle is the inconsistency of infrastructure in the United States, she said. There are sufficient collection processes and modern MRFs, but there is not a consistent method across the country to follow. “One company alone couldn’t write a check to solve this problem,” Croke said of the nation’s infrastructure concerns she referenced.
The industry currently does have a broken system, “there’s no question about it,” said Kerry Getter, CEO of Balcones Resources, based in Austin, Texas, and the third speaker at the conference’s keynote session.
Getter discussed the nation’s lack of education among its citizens regarding recycling awareness and said it would be helpful if standardization became a reality. “We need to clean up our act. We have a lot of ground to cover as an industry,” he said.
Getter also addressed another area of improvement for the industry: “Packaging design folks are seldom asked to come to the party,” he pointed out, referencing the connection between designers and recyclers when considering packaging composition.
Croke agreed. U.S. packaging designers do not have a significant relationship with recyclers, which needs to be changed, she said. “Companies are willing to invest in this, and why do companies care? Why invest millions in recycling?”
She noted several reasons why, including access to consistent cost-effective recycled content, helping consumers to recycle their products and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Today a lot of companies are looking 10 years out. They wouldn’t have done this 10 years ago. They have a broader context and they know they have to act on this stuff,” Croke explained.
The 2014 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference continues Thursday, Oct. 9, with the following sessions:
- “Mill Buyers Panel;”
- “Keeping a Lid on Transportation Costs;”
- “Re-Defining the PSI Definition and Specification for OCC;” and
- “The Outlook for Plastics.”