Berry says it expects its access to recycled plastics to grow over the next few years.

Berry Global Group Inc., based in Evansville, Indiana, has announced an agreement with PureCycle Technologies Inc. of Orlando, Florida, that will provide Berry with PureCycle’s Ultra-Pure Recycled (UPR) advanced recycled resin. The agreement is the latest in a growing list of advanced recycling material sourcing announcements from Berry and is the company’s second based in North America.

Berry is a member of The Recycling Partnership's Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, which is working to increase recycling access for that material. 

According to market research firm Ipsos, 47 percent of Americans opt for recyclable products as their first choice if given the option, and 20 percent prefer compostable products.

As demand for sustainable products grows, the company says customers look to Berry for access to recycled material and packaging design expertise to maintain their brand image and package performance, and as a result, Berry says it expects its access to recycled plastic material to grow to more than 600 million pounds by 2025.

“Customers look to Berry for unique ways to meet their ambitious sustainability goals. Through our access to advanced recycled resin and technical expertise, Berry is a dependable partner for customers in the implementation of sustainable solutions,” says Tom Salmon, Berry’s chairman and CEO. “By using our relationships with top suppliers and the latest technologies, we bring our customers premier access to in-demand circular resins.”

Berry harnesses advanced recycling to provide an outlet for difficult-to-recycle materials to be given a second life in the form of food-grade packaging, and while postconsumer resin often lacks the high clarity customers desire, circular resins from advanced recycling boast exceptional clarity, addressing customer demand, the company states in a news release on the agreement.

PureCycle’s patented recycling process separates color, odor and contaminants from plastic waste feedstock to transform it into UPR polypropylene (PP). The company converts plastic scrap into virgin-like plastic, fully closing the loop on the reuse of recycled plastics while making recycled PP more accessible at scale to companies desiring to use a sustainable, recycled resin.

The material will be supplied to Berry in summer 2023 for manufacturing at one of Berry’s ISCC PLUS certified facilities, providing customers with maximum traceability for the materials. Berry previously announced its first three facilities in North America to achieve ISCC PLUS certification.

Effram Kaplan, managing director at Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Co., discussed industry tailwinds and capital market drivers pushing valuations in the waste and environmental services market.

The solid waste management market is growing faster than it was five years ago, said Effram Kaplan, managing director at Cleveland-based Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Co. While the growth is a positive sign, it means that it can necessitate more of a balancing act when valuing businesses in the sector.

At Waste Today’s Corporate Growth Conference, which was Nov. 4 in Chicago, Kaplan discussed the tailwinds and capital market drivers impacting the environmental services market.

Kaplan said there is a valuation disconnect between public solid waste, environmental services and special waste businesses. Because of this, some transactions have been indicative of opportunities for investors. 

“There is no doubt there is a difference in public markets to think about where solid waste, environmental services and special waste is traded from a valuation perspective,” Kaplan said.

According to the Environmental Business Journal, the solid waste market is heavily consolidated, with a total market size of $76 billion. The public sector makes up 59.6 percent of this market, while the private sector makes up 21.7 percent, and government waste services represent 18.8 percent. 

Several things are contributing to the growth of the market overall, Kaplan said. He noted that things like the rise and flexibility of available financing products, the flood of capital into private markets and enhanced specialization have all played a role in driving the market forward. 

“I’ve never seen landfill values be as attractive as they are today,” Kaplan said. “Landfills are not going away. The population is growing, and there is a need to put the waste somewhere. Yes, there is anaerobic digestion; yes, there are material recovery facilities; yes, there are alternative ways to process waste; but what you see is [companies working to preserve and create landfill space].”

Another factor driving growth is that the environmental services and specialty waste management markets are widely unconsolidated. These markets, which Kaplan estimated to be worth $54 billion, are notably fragmented—no company owns more than 5 percent of the workforce.

Kaplan said that regulation and government intervention is getting more prevalent in the environmental services and waste market, noting that companies like Waste Management, Republic Services and GFL have all had to divest some of their assets after recent acquisitions in the market.

Kaplan also said new regulations will play a role in how businesses in the market are valued. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced plans to finalize mandatory climate reporting by the end of 2021. Other factors include the ESG Disclosure Act of 2021, which will require companies to incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance metrics into shareholder presentations and set other mandatory reporting metrics.

European Commission document recommends non-OECD countries give OK to receive secondary commodities from EU nations.

After considerable anxiety among traders of metals, old corrugated containers (OCC) and other scrap materials, a draft European Commission (EC) document does not recommend a ban on scrap moving from Europe to countries with developing economies.

Changes and additional paperwork may yet be in the offing, however. An executive summary of the new working document indicates traded materials (still designated as “waste” by the EC) “can only be exported to non-OECD countries that demonstrate their ability to treat” the materials. The EC also asks regulators to “ensure that exporting companies and countries verify that facilities properly treat this waste [sic].”

Non-OECD countries are those outside of the 38-nation Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. That group consists of countries with the highest per capita gross national product (GNP) and income.

The 120-page document with the complete proposed regulation contains in just its second paragraph the contrary notions that the traded scrap commodities generate “risks for human health and the environment” while also carrying considerable value.

After mentioning the risks, the regulation’s authors write that the shipped materials “often have a positive economic value, notably as secondary raw materials that can replace and reduce dependence on primary materials and thereby contribute to a more circular economy.”

The EC says its consultations with stakeholders has led it to favor the policy with the opt in system for non-OECD countries as a way to “support the EU’s objective to stop exporting its waste challenges to third countries, and contribute to better addressing illegal shipments of waste, without risking excessive costs or disruption.”

However, the document calls for “harmonized” contamination thresholds of the type introduced by the People’s Republic of China and (soon) Malaysia. Specifications used in Europe typically leave room for flexibility. Specifications authored by the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries frequently contain phrasing such as “agreed upon by buyer and seller.”

In terms of recordkeeping tasks confronting scrap processors and traders under the new regulation, the document says the EC expects to:

After reviewing the document, the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) said it was “relieved that the proposed regulation will not be imposing trade restrictions on recycled commodities between the United States and Europe.”

However, ISRI expressed concern about looming documentation demands for traders, unclear guidelines about what is a commodity versus a “waste,” and the overall scrutiny secondary commodities receive compared with mined materials.

“The regulation fails to provide adequate, clear and concise definitions and distinctions between valueless discarded waste and specification-grade recyclable commodities that are in high demand by global manufacturers with global supply chains,” states ISRI. “Imposing burdensome procedures on exporters to judge another country’s policies and recycling infrastructure or worse, banning trade of recyclable commodities – especially when no such comparable regulations are being imposed on carbon-intensive, primary raw materials extracted from the earth – will lead only to greater stress on the environment from mining and manufacturers being challenged to meet sustainability goals,” states the association.

The 120-page regulatory document can be downloaded from this web page.

Recycling investment fund says chemical, or molecular, recycling methods for plastic can “move the needle” on the material’s recycling rate.

New York-based Closed Loop Partners has released a 171-page report designed to examine the potential role of plastic scrap chemical recycling (also referred to as advanced recycling and molecular recycling) “in a circular and safe future for plastics.”

The report, prepared by Closed Loop’s Center for the Circular Economy and titled “Transitioning to a Circular System for Plastics: Assessing Molecular Recycling Technologies in the United States and Canada,” has as its premise that plastics production in North America is set to triple by 2050.

According to the report, “To move the needle on the 9 percent of plastics currently recycled globally, a suite of solutions must be deployed, first emphasizing reduction and reuse, and also acknowledging the role of recycling in keeping valuable plastics in play for longer and reducing the need for fossil fuel extraction.”

Some producers and users of plastic have increased their investments in mechanical recycling (shredding, washing, extruding and otherwise reprocessing scrap). Some of these same companies also have researched and invested in chemical recycling, which Closed Loop says “refers to a diverse sector, which encompasses dozens of technologies that use solvents, heat, enzymes and even sound waves to purify or transform plastics at the molecular level.”

Closed Loop says the technologies can require more energy than mechanical recycling, but they can process a wider range of plastic scrap, and “their various outputs can be looped back into manufacturing supply chains without compromising quality or being downcycled.”

The investment fund concludes, “Collectively, molecular recycling technologies have the potential to expand the scope of plastics we can recycle, help preserve the value of resources in our economy, and help meet the demand for high-quality, recycled plastics, even food-grade plastic.”

Closed Loops describes its report as an overdue assessment, based on nine systems studied, containing “comparative analysis among the different technologies” and a “systems-level analysis of their potential financial, environmental and human health opportunities and risks.”

The packaging and recycling firms Closed Loop studied were APK AG, PureCycle Technologies, Carbios, GreenMantra, JEPLAN, gr3n, Brightmark, Plastic Energy and Enerkem. It says those firms operate “across the sector’s three molecular recycling technology categories: purification, depolymerization and conversion.”

“Two-thirds of plastics used in the U.S. today are for applications like wind turbines, textiles, car parts and healthcare devices––which are viable feedstock for different advanced recycling technologies,” says Kate Daly, managing director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. “This report should serve as a guide to investors, policymakers, and anyone who cares about the plastic waste crisis and would like to explore what must be true in order for new and established technologies to play a safe and viable role in a circular system for plastics, without creating unintended consequences.”

The Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC) is among the trade groups with an early endorsement of the study. “Advanced recycling is transforming the circularity of plastics by increasing the amount and scope of plastics that can be recycled,” comments Joshua Baca, ACC vice president of plastics. “This has the ability to dramatically reduce the amount of plastic waste destined for landfills or leaked into the environment, while also providing significant economic benefits.”

The technology also has its skeptics, including the California-based Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). That group released a 40-page report last year questioning the financial viability of completed and planned chemical recycling projects. GAIA says its research found that “out of the 37 [chemical recycling] facilities proposed in the U.S. since 2000, only three are currently operational, and none have been proven to successfully recover plastic to make new plastics on a commercial scale.”

According to Closed Loop, its report includes more than 100 questions to supplement an investor’s due diligence of molecular recycling technologies, as well as links to the nine case studies. The entire 171-page report can be downloaded from this web page.

The NextCycle Colorado Program promotes innovative end markets for recycled or recovered material.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has launched the third year of NextCycle Colorado, a program designed to boost remanufacturing solutions for recycled or recovered content in Colorado.

CDPHE is now accepting applications from teams interested in joining NextCycle. Businesses accepted into the program are provided individualized technical support and mentorship by Resource Recycling Systems, Ann Arbor, Michigan, to refine ideas and develop investable and shovel-ready business plans. Teams that advance through NextCycle are eligible to apply for CDPHE grant funding.

Remanufacturing involves transforming a used commodity into a new or better condition to extend the life of the material. The CDPHE says it is committed to supporting businesses that develop innovative end markets for recycled materials, which will help the state achieve a 45 percent statewide landfill diversion rate in the next 15 years.

During the first two years of NextCycle Colorado, CDPHE says it recruited and supported 15 teams, all with the potential to bolster Colorado’s recycling end markets. Of those teams, five were awarded grants by the Recycling Resource Economic Opportunity program to grow their businesses. Some of the previously successful NextCycle Colorado teams include:

“Thank you, NextCycle Colorado, for taking the time to encourage us,” says Andy Hawk, co-founder of Timber Age Systems. “We look back on our NextCycle time as extremely important in the maturation and focus of the company. We made contacts and received encouragement we couldn’t dream of in other incubators/accelerators.’’

For more information about the program and application, please visit the department’s website or email nextcycle@recycle.com.