Partnership to process plastics on-site at NPE2018

Weima America, a Fort Mill, South Carolina-based manufacturer of size reduction equipment for the metal, wood, paper and plastic industries, and the Plastics Industry Association, Washington, have announced a recycling partnership with Commercial Plastics Recycling Inc. (CPR), Tampa, Florida, to collect, process and remove plastic scrap on-site at NPE2018: The Plastics Show in Orlando, Florida, May 7-11. The Plastics Industry Association produces NPE triennially.

The partnership offers a free way for exhibitors to recycle their plastic scrap on-site and provides an interactive opportunity for attendees to see recycling machinery in action. This collaboration also will show the value of plastic scrap and helps the Plastics Industry Association to reach its zero-waste mission.

Weima will set up a two-stage shredding system in an outdoor parking lot while a team from CPR collects plastic scrap from participating exhibitors throughout the duration of NPE2018: The Plastics Show. CPR and Weima will perform the size reduction process at the show.

Audrey Brewer, marketing manager at Weima, says, “Seeing it firsthand helps a lot of manufacturers understand the benefits of a shredder or size reduction equipment in their operations. This is an opportunity to get in front of a lot of manufacturers who make scrap; we wanted to give them a full picture of what a shredding system can bring to an operation.”

After NPE2018, CPR will transport the various plastics to its Tampa facility where the company will put together loads for end users and compounders. Paul Benvenuti, sales manager at CPR, says the end product will be ground plastic flakes that can be used directly in production or compounding.

“The partnership is a natural one as members of the Plastics Industry Association will be showcasing recycling as part of Plastics’ sustainability initiative and NPE is a great platform for this,” Benvenuti says.

Brewer says the two-stage shredding system—a Weima WLK 15 single-shaft shredder with infeed discharge conveyors and metal detection and an LM 600/1000 granulator with a blower system—will process like materials as plastic is collected, creating a homogeneous size in throughput. The plastics collected from exhibitors’ booths include materials from blow mold machines or injection molding presentations—bottles, sheets, bags and pipes—and consist of a range of grades: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), co-PET, high molecular weight (HMW), PP/PE, PC/ABS, nylon and others.

“The system preshreds hard scrap and then feeds it into a granulator to make it even smaller and homogeneous, making it ideal for putting into an extruder or selling to a recycler for reintegration into their materials line,” Brewer explains.

The Plastics Industry Association says the partnership will help the association fulfill its goal of zero waste and create a more efficient event overall. Lori Campbell, senior director of trade show operations for the Plastics Industry Association, says 101 companies participated at the last show, NPE2015. She says the association’s goal is to have 100 percent participation from exhibitors at NPE2018.

“We encourage our exhibitors to participate in establishing an effective and economical waste reduction [and]  size reduction plan for NPE2018,” Campbell says. “It is our goal to demonstrate to members, brand owners, show participants, media and the public the strides our industry is making in both the products we produce as well as the methods our industry is taking to help us fulfill Plastics’ mission of zero waste.” 

While CPR collected plastic scrap from exhibitors at NPE2015, this is the first year that materials will be processed on-site. Campbell says this will help to decrease the number of trucks leaving the show, as the plastic scrap already has been reduced in size prior to leaving the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC).

CPR’s Benvenuti says in addition to reducing truck traffic, the partnership saves money.

“The on-site shredding will lower the number of trucks needed to move materials from the OCCC to CPR’s Tampa facility. This is not only a cost-saver, but reduces the carbon footprint of trucks on the road,” says Benvenuti.

Campbell says the volume of plastics collected at NPE shows has continued to grow. At NPE2015, CPR captured 61 percent more plastic material, 191 tons total, from exhibitors than at NPE2012, which collected 118 tons, and 235 percent more than at NPE2009 with 57 tons. In 2015, the event had 518 tons of total waste, with 87 percent of that being diverted from landfill, Campbell says.

	LM 600/1000 granulator with a blower system
	WLK 15 single-shaft shredder

Brewer says there will be signs directing attendees to the Westwood parking lot where Weima’s two-stage shredding system will be set up. Weima and the Plastics Industry Association say they plan to push out notifications via a mobile app to inform attendees when the shredding is happening.

“There will be different shredding times for certain materials. It will depend on what CPR brings us out back; it will go with the flow of the show,” Brewer says.

To register for NPE2018: The Plastics Show visit www.npe.org/attend.

The Plastics Industry Association, formerly SPI, says it is the only organization that supports the entire plastics supply chain, representing nearly 1 million workers in the $418 billion U.S. industry. Since 1937, the association has been working to make its members and the industry more globally competitive while advancing recycling and sustainability.