Recycling Leaders Meet to Explore Economic and Technical Challenges

Stakeholders in the plastics recycling market assembled in Cincinnati August 22 & 23 for the second annual Baerlocher Recycling Summit. The diversity of participants spanned production, consumer brand, material conversion, equipment supply, and material recovery. Speakers offered a variety of insights on the looming challenge of increasing the recycled portion of plastics production against the headwind of sluggish prices (pricing for regrind and reprocessed plastics have remained low throughout 2023, according to reports from the Oil Price Information Service).  

Processing Recycled Resin: Challenges and Strategies

Jens Schuelter, of equipment supplier W. Muller, shared results of testing that company does to understand the challenges in processability, appearance, and mechanical properties encountered by their customers, with examples of how formulation changes can help meet specifications—even with PCR materials other than the best quality HDPE.

Nate Miranda, of Transcontinental Packaging, spoke of the challenges in using recycled material in shrink collation films, where paper labeling, adhesives, varying content, and even inconsistent pellet sizes can create processing issues.  

Robert Sherman, technical director at Baerlocher, explained the chemical mechanisms of degradation introduced by recycling processes, and how stabilization can mitigate the effects. “Recycling involves heat and shear, the two worst things you can do to a polymer,” said Sherman. Joe Palmer, of Altium, also attributed much of the difficulty dealing with recycled materials to degradation from heat cycle history. Palmer described analysis and design strategies to prevent common product failure modes.

Price Gap Between Recycled and Virgin Material

Given the amount of work and expertise required to access the value in recycled plastic, it should be no surprise that its production costs more than simply making new virgin plastic. It is not clear where in the value chain that cost can be absorbed in the current environment. 

Ben Ma, associate research director at The Clorox Company, expressed skepticism that consumers would be willing to pick it up: “People say they will spend more money on a sustainable product. But if you put money in their pocket and send them to the store, you’ll find out what they really buy.”

Greg Janson, president at Granite Peak Plastics, and Steve Alexander, president at the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), both cited competition from wide-spec virgin resin as a downward pressure on recycled material prices. According to Janson, opportunities in durable goods could help make demand more predictable and prices more competitive in the long term. “We have a viable recycling industry because of durables, not packaging”, said Janson.

Others opined that recycled plastics would never be consistently competitive to virgin material on a cost basis. “The cost of PCR may have been less than virgin at one point, but that was a moment in history. It costs money to recycle,” said Jean Bina, director of sales and market development at Envision Plastics.

Despite the challenges, live polling conducted at the summit showed that many participants were optimistic about the future of plastics recycling. Views on extended producer responsibility laws and recycled content mandates were diverse, but the general sentiment was that policy would play an indispensable role in the future of recycling.

Data presented by APR’s Steve Alexander may have been part of the optimism. According to a report prepared by Stina, five billion pounds of plastic was recycled in North America in 2021, and 90% of plastic collected for recycling was processed within North America.

Organizers from Baerlocher closed by soliciting feedback on the content of the summit, with the aim of incorporating in its next iteration in 2024.