Zeroing In On A Recycling Target: 100% Waste Diversion Is the Goal at NPE2018

Part of the appeal of NPE is the opportunity to see plastics machinery in operation, and for equipment suppliers exhibiting, the goal is to show just how quickly their technology can convert pellets to parts. PLASTICS wants attendees to know that those parts—and scrap—produced outside of a purchase order, will live on to be converted another day thanks to a 100% waste diversion goal for the show.

The show has once again contracted with Commercial Plastics Recycling (CPR), Tampa, Florida, to collect and remove scrap plastic from the NPE2018 show floor and transport it to the new, on-site recycling area in the Westwood parking lot adjacent to the West Hall. Sponsored by size reduction equipment supplier WEIMA America, this area features WEIMA’s two-stage shredding system which is reducing collected scrap plastic into small pellets before it is transported to CPR’s headquarters in Tampa. Attendees can visit the demonstration area to see the recycling process in action.

In the Earth Day press release, Paul Benvenuti of CPR noted that reducing the plastic into smaller pellets before transportation—new at NPE2018—allows his company to use fewer trucks to ship the resin to its facility in Tampa, resulting in reduced carbon emissions. CPR was also the official recycler at NPE2015 when it helped divert fully 87% of plastic waste from the show.

In addition to show floor parts and scrap, PLASTICS says food prep waste from the show that can’t be donated is being collected and transported to Harvest Power’s Energy Garden here in Orlando, where it will be recycled into electricity and fertilizer for local farms.