PAPER RECYCLING CONFERENCE: Forging the Single Stream

Single-stream collection and processing techniques are not a short-term experiment, says Brian Fielkow, a vice president with Recycle America Alliance LLC.

Addressing attendees of the Paper Recycling Conference & Trade Show in Chicago in late June, Fielkow pointed to six trends that are affecting the way his company—perhaps America’s largest handler of scrap paper—deals in the recovered fiber markets. Those trends include:

-              Weak supply currently because of a soft economy, more efficient printing production processes and subdued public interest in recycling

-              Stronger export demand for scrap paper

-              A fragmented supplier base of generators and packers that is like to consolidate similar to the way mill production has

-              Municipalities and hauling companies are both scrutinizing the economics of municipal recycling

-              Several factors are influencing the mill-paperstock supplier relationship.

What hasn’t changed, says Fielkow, are mill demands for consistent quality and the long-term security of their fiber supplies. The single-stream collection and processing technique championed by Recycle America Alliance (a subsidiary of Waste Management Inc., Houston) fulfills the steady supply desire, but has been criticized by some as falling short on quality.

Fielkow told attendees that in order for curbside materials to be collected and marketed at all, the single-stream system may be necessary. “The question has to be asked: Is curbside recycling economically viable? Only if it makes economic sense versus landfilling,” answered Fielkow.

He added that Recycle America Alliance was continuing to explore improvements to the single-stream process, including using optical sorting to separate glass and plastic and increasing public education to keep contaminants out of the stream.

Fielkow then invited attendees to sign up for a tour of Recycle America’s nearby Grayslake, Ill., single-stream material recovery facility to see the quality of finished products first-hand. “Single-stream will make curbside [programs] more economically sustainable,” he stated.