Eastman has partnered with postconsumer feedstock provider Circular Polymers.

Eastman, Kingsport, Tennessee, has reached an agreement to give new life to one of the most problematic materials in landfills. Postconsumer carpet will now be recycled through Eastman's carbon renewal technology and converted into new materials to serve new and useful purposes.

Eastman has partnered with Circular Polymers, a company that reclaims postconsumer products for recycling, according to an Eastman news release. Through this agreement, Eastman has secured a consistent source of feedstock for carbon renewal technology, a chemical recycling method that recently began commercial operation at Eastman's primary manufacturing site in Kingsport.

"Our work with Circular Polymers will divert millions of pounds of carpet from landfills in the first year of our agreement," says Mark Costa, Eastman board chair and chief executive officer. "Securing consistent sources of feedstock is an important element of our circular solutions platform, as it ensures we can provide Eastman customers with materials that contain certified recycled content. This is our first announcement on sourcing feedstocks for our chemical recycling technologies, and there will be more to come."

More than 3 billion pounds of carpet was sent to U.S. landfills in 2018, according to Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). Under this agreement, Circular Polymers will collect polyester carpet from homes and businesses and recycle it at the company's California reclamation facility, where they utilize a unique processing technology that efficiently separates the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) fiber from the carpeting.

Circular Polymers densifies the fiber, which enables its efficient transport by railcar to Eastman's manufacturing site for chemical recycling, where it will produce new materials with certified recycled content. Those materials will be used to produce products used in Eastman markets, including textiles, cosmetics and personal care and ophthalmics.

"We are excited to collaborate with Eastman on a project that benefits the planet," says David Bender, CEO of Circular Polymers. "Congratulations to Eastman on their leadership in the circular economy and upcycling carpet."

CARE, a nonprofit created to support and facilitate market-based solutions that keep carpet out of landfills, partnered with Eastman and Circular Polymers to facilitate the agreement. Since its founding in 2002, CARE has diverted more than 5 billion pounds of carpet from landfills.

"CARE is proud to be part of the team bringing a solution for waste carpet to the marketplace," remarks Robert Peoples, executive director of CARE. "Eastman and Circular Polymers moved quickly from idea to implementation, and this is a win for all involved."

This announcement comes less than a year after Eastman first announced its intention to prioritize meaningful contributions to the circular economy.

"We're a company committed to immediate, substantive action to support a circular economy," says Steve Crawford, Eastman senior vice president, chief technology and sustainability officer. "Finding new value in old carpet is something we can all appreciate and relate to. If we just discard the carpet and landfill it, then it's as if the valuable resources it took to make that carpet are locked up and no longer useful. Eastman is also committed to changing that story for multiple sources of mixed plastic, which now are being landfilled. By collaborating with feedstock providers like Circular Polymers and others across the value chain, we are going to work together to reclaim the value of our resources."

Eastman expects to use up to 50 million pounds of postconsumer plastic in carbon renewal technology operations in 2020, and projects are currently underway to significantly expand that amount.

"In addition to other feedstock agreements like this one, we are also developing takeback programs in partnership with strategic customers to supply additional feedstocks for our innovative recycling technologies," Crawford adds. "Our carbon renewal technology is already operating at commercial scale capacity, so we are actively pursuing additional feedstock opportunities to realize a material impact as quickly as possible."

Packaging with an EVOH concentration above 5 percent by weight is not compatible with recycling.

RecyClass, a platform created by Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) to assess the recyclability of plastic films and improve the design of packaging, carried out tests on the compatibility of the ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) barrier in polyethlene (PE) film with the recycling process.

The tests were carried out in independent laboratories that run analyses on different samples following the procedures of the RecyClass Recyclability Evaluation Protocol for PE films. The findings show that EVOH with a threshold of up to 5 percent of the total weight of the PE film has a minor impact on the recycled material; however, above this limit, an immediate impact on the extrusion process was observed, according to a PRE news release. This results in increased yellowing of the material, a net increase of haze, gels and specks, as well as a frequent bubble breakage.

RecyClass design for recycling guidelines for PE films, as well as the RecyClass tool, will be updated based on the new findings. Accordingly, an EVOH concentration below or equal to 5 percent by weight will be considered as having limited compatibility and an EVOH concentration above 5 percent by weight will be treated as not compatible with recycling.

Within the RecyClass grading system (on the scale from A to F, which resembles the European Union energy efficiency scale), EVOH with a threshold of up to 5 percent of the total weight of the PE film can be ranked maximally as class B1. This class implies that “a package has some minor recyclability issues.”

Functional barriers are used in plastic packaging to protect the goods from any unfavorable external conditions, including exposure to ultraviolet light, oxygen, vapor or odor. They help in keeping goods fresh and prolong their shelf life. Nevertheless, barriers can have a detrimental impact on the quality of recycled material at the end of life of a package.

Today, the industry is actively working on innovative packaging solutions that are not disruptive to the recycling processes. By evaluating the new packaging technologies and providing advice on design, RecyClass helps the industry to ensure recyclability of products on the market.

The company wants to make investments in several communities by adding recycling facilities to advance plastics recycling.

Brightmark Energy, a San Francisco-based waste and energy development company, has announced that it is launching a nationwide search for U.S. locations suitable for its next set of advanced recycling facilities. The company reports in a news release that it hopes these additional facilities will help to “convert hundreds of thousands of tons of postconsumer plastics into new products, including fuels, wax and other products.” According to Brightmark, a search for potential facilities will kick off on Nov. 19 with a webinar and formal indication of interest submission for interested communities.

Brightmark expects to make investments of about $500 million to $1 billion at each site location, and the company plans to create more than 100 jobs in each host community selected through this process, with additional indirect economic activity expected to occur in each chosen community as a result of the projects. 

“The United States is facing a major plastics recycling shortfall,” says Brightmark CEO Bob Powell. “Imagine a world without plastic waste. We’ve got a proven, market-ready solution, which we will be scaling up nationally to meet this demand. Communities are struggling with a deluge of contaminated plastics, much of which ends up in incinerators or landfills. We have a viable, profitable alternative that solves many of the challenges historically associated with plastics recycling.”

The company’s plastics renewal technology takes mixed plastics and converts that into an ultra-low sulfur diesel, naphtha and wax. The process also is capable of creating building blocks for new plastics, the company reports in the news release.

“Our team has successfully developed billions in power and energy plants, and we’re ready to go big on our next plastic conversion sites,” adds Zeina El-Azzi, chief development officer of Brightmark. “We’ve built a tremendous partnership with the folks in Steuben County, Indiana, and we’re now searching for other communities where we can put down roots and work hand in hand to expand local recycling infrastructure and create jobs.”

Brightmark says it is seeking to work with communities that can provide strong local, regional and state support for project development through incentives and improved plastic recycling programs; access to at least 200,000 tons per year of commingled plastic waste (Nos. 1-7); access to 30 to 100 acres of suitable land with excellent access to rail and highways; and natural gas and electric utility support for such a project. Other criteria will be detailed in a forthcoming request for proposal. The company anticipates completing a site selection by the second quarter of 2020. 

Click here to learn more about the company’s webinar Nov. 19.

U.K. recycler purchases four material handlers to boost its business.

Ward Recycling, Derbyshire, England, has added four LH40-M material handlers from Germany-based Liebherr to its operations. The machines were purchased for £1.25 million (or about $1.61 million). 

According to a news release from Ward, the new machines will help the company to move various materials, including metal, wood, plastic and general waste. One machine is a multiuser with grab, magnet and snipper attachment, which will be used for on-site services for projects within the demolition and construction industry.

Ordered at the end of 2018, Ward has taken delivery of the four material handlers throughout the year and the final one was delivered on site at Ilkeston, England, in September to support the infrastructure improvements and installation of a Metso preshredder, the company reports in a news release on the equipment investment. Ward has now increased its processing capability and recycles more than 500,000 metric tons of ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal of all grades for sale within the U.K. and to export overseas annually.

“Liebherr LH40s are considered best in class for performance, safety and handling capacity,” says Donald Ward, commercial manager at Ward. “Their [energy recovery system] ensures we get the maximum handling capacity, while lowering the overall fuel consumption by up to 30 percent, as well as reducing pollutant and noise emissions. We’ve made the investment to increase the amount of materials we are able to move around sites, improve processing times and to provide the best equipment we can for our staff to make the job as safe and comfortable as it can be.”

According to a news release from Ward, the independent fourth-generation family business has invested significantly over the last two years. The company completed an office renovation at Ilkeston, and it opened a dedicated deep-sea dock at Immingham, England, for the expansion of its metal recycling capabilities. The company also launched a new textile recycling service called WARDRobe.

European companies will work together to chemically recycle more than 200 kilotons of plastic scrap per year.

Neste, a Finnish company that provides renewable diesel and jet fuel to companies throughout Europe, and Remondis, a Germany-based recycling and waste management company, have signed an agreement to collaborate in the development of chemical recycling of plastic waste. The companies will focus on developing and accelerating chemical recycling with a target to reach an annual capacity to process over 200 kilotons (or 100,000 short tons) of plastic scrap per year.

Through the partnership, Remondis will use its expertise in waste collection and sorting with Neste’s background in oil refining and processing of low-quality waste and residual materials materials to develop an effective method to collect, process and market fuel from plastic scrap. 

Chemical recycling of plastics breaks down plastic scrap into a raw material for the plastics and chemicals industries to use in the production of new high-quality plastics, chemicals and fuels.

“In order to establish chemical recycling of plastics at an industrial scale, it is necessary that the recycling industry and the chemical industry work closely together. The partnership between Remondis and Neste will focus on creating an optimal recycling process to make even more plastics circular,” says Jürgen Ephan, managing director of recycling at Remondis.