| Plastics Recycler |
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Excerpt: In an industry as diverse as recycling, the possibilities for the small entrepreneur are almost unlimited. However, some types of businesses will be easier to start than others. Since adding value to the materials is the key to being profitable, one approach is to use a material that currently has a very low or negative value to create a new product which has a much higher value in the marketplace. Because of their low values, great potential exists in using green or mixed-colored glass, mixed paper, plastics labeled with numbers three through seven, scrap tires, and construction and demolition wastes such as scrap wood. Another approach is to manufacture a product already on the market, substituting recycled materials instead of virgin materials, or to produce a recycled product locally, with local materials. Only a very small percentage of products on the market today are truly new inventions. Most are variations on a theme—try making recycled materials your variation... Source: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/rmd/docs/mffbog.pdf ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: Brooks, Ore.-based plastics recycling company Agri-Plas Inc. has developed a process to convert waste plastics into a high-quality crude oil, and is selling this reclaimed crude oil product to U.S. Oil & Refining in Tacoma, Wash. The technology used, according to Agri-Plas Vice President Allen Jongsma, is similar to a modified pyrolysis process. “Some call it a type of pyrolysis – it’s close to that,” he said. “We call it a reclamation process. We had to make changes to how we put plastics in, how we managed gases and vapors once we get to a certain temperature and how we break it back down into the crude oil, separating of the gases and acids and everything else out of it. That’s a key component.” Jongsma said patent protection is underway… “We’re now getting ready for a commercial application,” Jongsma told Biomass Magazine. Agri-Plas shipped their first tanker load of crude to U.S. Oil & Recycling in Tacoma in December. The company is currently in the process of building a fourth mega unit – four cookers tied together in one pod – to increase throughput capacity; reduce process energy needed as some methane and butane generated will be burned off to help provide process heat; and serve as a showcase model for marketing and selling the units. The four-cooker pod is scheduled for installation in a new building equipped with solar panels to even further minimize process energy requirements. “We’re trying to make this project about as green as it can get,” he said. The four-piece cooker will be able to make more than 2,500 gallons of crude a day, and should be running by summertime 2009. Source: http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2556 ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: In Europe, recycling is a part of the consumer's daily life. In the U.S., consumers still choose convenience over recycling. In addition, there isn't a strong business motivation to recycle. In the case of glass and metal, it is now less expensive and more efficient to use recycled materials, from a raw materials perspective. In addition, glass and metal can be recycled efficiently. Because plastics are still sorted manually, the recycling process is expensive and time-consuming. Because the business of recycling is not strongly profitable, there is little incentive for businesses to recycle. However, there has been a growing trend toward "sustainability", which is the effort to ensure that the lifecycle of a product does not destroy the source of the product or the environment. For plastics, that means industry leaders must consider the environmental impact of manufacturing practices, the use of renewable resources, overall resource minimization and, critically, recycling at the end of the product lifecycle. The increased attention on sustainability has led to a renewed focus on recycling plastics. It has also prompted an effort to reduce overall plastics consumption. For example, Walmart, the leading U.S. retailer, has launched a sustainability campaign that pledges to reduce the size of packages and increase their use of recycled materials in an effort to save energy and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: Recycling may be good for the environment, but right now it's not very good business. Plummeting global market prices for such items as aluminum, paper, plastic and steel — some of which have fallen by as much as 80% — are forcing recycling companies to lay off workers, cut expenses and stop accepting certain materials because of their decreased worth. Prices started dropping in early fall when the global export market collapsed as a result of the recession, said Ed Skernolis, acting executive director of the National Recycling Coalition in Washington, D.C. While metal prices had shown some decline earlier because of slowdowns in domestic auto production and construction activity, other commodities dropped sharply when the Asian markets, particularly China, stopped buying, Skernolis said. "The business side of recycling is heavily influenced by the price of materials brought into the commodity market," Skernolis said. "The value chain is intrinsically connected to the global economy." According to RecycleNet Corp., based in Salt Lake City, the national price of aluminum has dropped from $2,040 to $1,020 per ton since June. Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2008-12-23-recycledrop_N.htm ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: The once-red-hot global trade of recycled plastic is facing a bitter winter. Market prices have plunged across the board, and even more troubling to insiders, demand appears to be disappearing. Industry players in the United States are struggling to deal with the collapse of the Chinese and domestic markets. “Orders to China basically dried up, and everybody I talked to in the industry is feeling the same thing,” said Steve Anderson, owner of Killingworth-based APC Recycling. Specifically, “the higher end materials – PET, [low density polyethylene and] commercial film – are continuing to move but at much lower prices, and at much smaller quantities. The mixed materials are not moving,” noted Patty Moore, president of Moore Recycling Associates in Sonoma, California. On the other end of the globe, containers of plastic scrap have been piling up at Chinese ports for weeks, as importers fail to claim the goods. Thanks to the financial crisis in the US and world, export-focused manufacturers are shutting down, and demand for resin is definitely plummeting. Source: http://www.prw.com/subscriber/newscat2.html?cat=1&channel=320&id=1227001849 ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: "I've read that the tap water has all sorts of pollutants in it, and somehow I got hooked on the idea that bottled water was healthier," said Sande, a Berkeley resident with a community membership to the campus recreation center. "I've been doing it for so many years, it's habit." Cal's gym, frequented by students, faculty, and local residents, has become one microcosm of the clashing opinions about bottled versus tap water in the U.S. today. While many members walk around in their workout clothes with Crystal Geyser and Dasani bottles, others carry refillable containers and make use of the drinking fountains, where the water is cold, unlimited and free… Casteneda is part of a bottled-water backlash — a national effort to persuade American water-buyers that what comes out of the tap is just as good for people and much better for the environment. According to the International Water Bottle Association, the sale of bottled water is now growing in the U.S. at a steady 10 percent per year — a figure that has prompted environmental groups and social rights organizations to mount campaigns to persuade officials and residents to choose public tap water over bottled water . This fall, an advocacy group called Corporate Accountability International has brought its "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign to Oakland, asking Mayor Ron Dellums to cancel all his bottled water contracts and make a public pledge to promote the benefits of his own city's tap water. This follows the group's successful campaigns in San Francisco, Emeryville, San Leandro and Berkeley to get mayors to cancel bottled water contracts. Corporate Accountability objects to the privatization of clean drinking water and to the unnecessary energy consumption and waste generated from plastic bottles. According to Corporate Accountability, the demand for bottled water in the U.S. last year required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil. While plastic bottles are recyclable, Corporate Accountability says each year more than four billion pounds of plastic bottles end up in landfills or as roadside litter. Dellums has not yet signed on to the pledge, but his staff has said that he agrees with the goals of the campaign. "We hope to have a concrete response from him shortly," said Rachael Goodyer, campaign coordinator for Corporate Accountability, whose studies indicate that three out of four people in America drink bottled water , with one in five drinking only bottled water . Source: Goldman, Kiran. "Bottled-water backlash has many drinkers tapped out." San Mateo County Times (CA) 25 Nov. 2007: Access World News. NewsBank. University of Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library. San Antonio, TX. 15 Apr 2009 |
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