The companies say they plan to accelerate production of recycled polypropylene by the end of 2025.

Orlando, Florida-based PureCycle Technologies LLC, which uses solvent-based purification technology to recycle polypropylene (PP) scrap, has announced a partnership with Gulfspan Industrial LLC, a manufacturer based in Houston, to build and reserve construction space in Beaumont, Texas, for the fabrication of modular processing lines. 

According to a news release from PureCycle, Gulfspan's expanded capacity will help PureCycle's mission to grow its ability to recycle PP into an ultra-pure, sustainable plastic resin. This collaboration also will centralize and streamline PureCycle's module construction process, allowing the modules to be built and transported to sites internationally.

"Our partnership with Gulfspan sets another key foundational component for PureCycle to more efficiently implement and control our growth plan," says Dustin Olson, PureCycle chief manufacturing officer. "Streamlining the process of building and installing modular plants means we intend to build faster and more cost-effectively, thereby allowing us to increase our recycling capacity. Our mission is to have every person, household and business view polypropylene as a sustainable resource. This partnership will help us accelerate PureCycle's role in achieving this goal."

PureCycle says Gulfspan Industrial is set in a cost-competitive and highly skilled labor market with infrastructure available to support PureCycle's upcoming construction projects. Gulfspan is supporting existing strategic partners with the building of PureCycle's Ironton, Ohio, plant and the preplanning activities for the Augusta, Georgia, cluster facility.

PureCycle uses proprietary super-critical solvent purification technology to recycle postuse PP into ultra-pure recycled polypropylene (rPP) for applications spanning consumer goods, automotive, building and construction and industrial uses. The company says it can process a wide range of end-of-life PP with varying levels of contamination and effectively remove containments to create an ultra-pure PP resin.

Construction on the flagship Ohio recycling facility is underway and expected to begin commercial production in the fourth quarter of 2022. PureCycle says it has already presold more than 20 years of rPP output from the Ohio plant and announced in July the location for the first cluster facility in Georgia. This second location will have room for up to five processing lines with the capability to produce up to 650 million pounds of rPP toward PureCycle's 1 billion-pound goal. Engineering for the cluster facility started in the second quarter of this year, with construction scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2022.

The company attributes strong sales to strong demand in segments it serves, including e-commerce, food, beverage and industrial.

Atlanta-based WestRock Co. reports that it achieved record revenue levels in the third quarter of its fiscal year, which ended June 30. Net sales were at $4.8 billion in the third quarter, up 14 percent compared with the third quarter of 2020. Net income was at $250 million in the third quarter of the year, up 40 percent compared with $179 million in the third quarter of 2020.

WestRock reports that its adjusted segment earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was at $811 million in the third quarter of the year, up 15 percent compared with $708 million in the third quarter of 2020. The company also generated net cash provided by operating activities of $751 million and adjusted free cash flow of $554 million in the quarter compared with $740 million and $508 million, respectively, in the third quarter of 2020. WestRock says it reduced its total debt by $270 million in the quarter and adjusted net debt by $482 million.

According to the company’s third-quarter earnings presentation Aug. 5, packaging sales were up 15 percent in the third quarter compared with the same time frame in 2020.

“Demand continued to be strong in the key markets we serve, including e-commerce, food, beverage and industrial,” said David Sewell, chief executive officer at WestRock, during the company’s earnings presentation. “North American per day box shipments were up 9 percent year over year. We are implementing the previously published price increases across our major paper grades. These pricing gains, combined with our volume growth and mix improvements, outpaced inflation and drove 15 percent adjusted EBITDA growth year over year and adjusted EBITDA margins of 16.8 percent.”

Ward Dickson, chief financial officer at WestRock, reported during the earnings presentation that the company’s corrugated box shipments increased 3 percent sequentially in the third quarter of the year. He added that sequential cost inflation was driven by higher recovered fiber costs, up $22 per ton compared with the second quarter of the year, along with increased transportation, energy and chemical costs. He said, “Corrugated packaging, pricing and mix outpaced inflation by $89 million from Q2 to Q3. Inventory levels remained low as we came out of our peak mill outage quarter. We have only 11,000 tons of planned maintenance outage downtime in the fourth quarter.”

Sewell concludes, “We saw strong demand for our products and solutions across our targeted end markets, and pricing gains outpaced inflation in the quarter. It was another quarter of strong cash flows, and we executed our capital allocation priorities, enabling us to approach our targeted net leverage range ahead of expectations. Looking forward, we remain well-positioned for success and are committed to accelerating the opportunities we see across our differentiated portfolio, innovating to develop new sustainable, fiber-based packaging solutions and driving productivity to generate improved returns.”

Producers of packaging, paper products and food service ware will be required to share responsibility for supporting in-state recycling programs.

Oregon became the second state to require producers of packaging, paper products and food service ware to share responsibility for supporting in-state recycling programs when Gov. Kate Brown signed SB 582, known as the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, into law Aug. 6. Sen. Michael Dembrow and Rep. Janeen Sollman were the chief sponsors of the bill. 

Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed a similar extended producer responsibility (EPR) law into effect July 12.

Under Oregon’s new law, brand owners selling packaging, paper products and food service ware into Oregon will join stewardship organizations and pay fees to support the improvement and expansion of recycling programs and infrastructure statewide. This new packaging EPR program is intended to reduce the impacts of waste on the environment and human health, keep plastics out of rivers and oceans and take steps toward addressing the inequitable impacts of the waste system on vulnerable communities, legislators say.

“With this new law, Oregon ratepayers will be provided a much more accessible, responsible and stable recycling system,” says Scott Cassel, CEO and founder of the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), which advocates for the promulgation of responsible recycling through EPR legislation. “It will also provide producers with the financial incentive to make their packaging more sustainable, and local communities with funding for reuse and waste prevention programs.”

Under the new system, consumer brand payments will cover roughly one-quarter of the costs of a modernized recycling system. In contrast to Maine’s law, which covers all recycling costs, producers under Oregon’s law will not cover the costs of collection, which will continue to be paid for by residential and commercial ratepayers. Local authorities will maintain operational control for collection services and public education programs, while producer funding will enable improvements such as recycling facility upgrades, broader collection services and more accessible educational resources.

Producers will finance their obligations through fees on covered products that they pay to stewardship organizations. These fees will be based on factors such as recyclability, use of postconsumer recycled content and the life cycle impacts of the materials they use. The largest producers also will be required to perform lifecycle assessments on 1 percent of their products every two years. 

The new law will create a uniform statewide collection list and expand recycling access to multifamily housing and those living in rural and remote communities. A new multistakeholder group, known as the Oregon Recycling System Advisory Council, will advise the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and stewardship organizations on key elements of the new program, including producer implementation plans. 

Oregon’s law promotes equity and environmental justice by requiring Oregon DEQ to conduct regular studies on access to recycling and enacting new permitting and certification requirements for processors to provide living wages and benefits for their employees. Recycling processing facilities will also be required to meet new performance standards, such as for material quality and reporting, and will share responsibility with consumer brands for ensuring that collected materials reach socially and environmentally responsible end markets. The costs of meeting these new standards will also be offset by producer funding.  

“It’s encouraging to see the extensive provisions aimed at addressing recycling inequities and environmental justice in Oregon’s new law,” says Sydney Harris, policy and programs manager and packaging lead at PSI. “We have these elements in PSI’s policy model and hope to see them included in all packaging EPR legislation.”

PSI has promoted EPR for packaging for the past 15 years and developed a model bill that has informed legislation introduced in eight states, including Oregon, over the past two years. Oregon’s bill emerged from a multiyear stakeholder engagement process, led by Oregon DEQ, to gather input and identify solutions best suited to the state.

Oregon is one of the nation’s leaders when it comes to successful EPR programs. Working with PSI, state and local governments, the paint industry, and other key players, Oregon was the first state in the country to pass EPR legislation for paint in 2009. It also has EPR programs for electronics and pharmaceuticals, as well as a decades-long EPR program for beverage containers.

Tissue demand had spiked in the second quarter of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cascades Inc., a tissue and packaging producer based in Kingsey Falls, Quebec, experienced a slight decline in sales in the second quarter of the year compared with the same fiscal quarter in 2020. According to the company’s latest earnings report, it attributes this decline to lower demand in its tissue business.

“Our second-quarter results were below expectations, with the sequential shortfall driven by our tissue segment,” says Mario Plourde, president and CEO of Cascades, of the company’s second-quarter earnings. “This reflected several factors, the most prominent being $12 million due to higher raw material costs and $9 million related to the net impact of sales prices and mix variance in the current period. We continued to see lower demand levels in tissue in the quarter, notably in U.S. consumer retail product categories, as customers worked through inventories built up throughout 2020 in response to COVID-19 demand volatility.”

In the second quarter of 2020, tissue demand had spiked in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cascades achieved sales of $956 million in the second quarter, which ended June 30. This compares with sales of $942 million in the first quarter of this year and $1,020 million in the second quarter of 2020. Operating income was at $23 million in the second quarter compared with $44 million in the first quarter and $64 million in the second quarter of 2020. Operating income before depreciation and amortization was at $87 million for the recently completed quarter compared with $109 million in the first quarter of this year and $127 million in the second quarter of 2020.

Plourde says Cascades decided to “curtail some tissue converting production” in June to manage inventories. He says the demand contraction is tissue is likely “an interim response to COVID-19 volatility given the essential nature of these products. Looking ahead, the modernization completed across our tissue platform has equipped this segment to generate important benefits when demand levels begin to normalize.”

On the packaging side of the business, Plourde says Cascades’ Containerboard and Specialty Products business segments delivered strong quarterly results. He says higher selling prices in the Containerboard segment reflect two of the three announced price increases the company has made, and he adds that volumes in that segment have been strong.

Raw material costs were high in the quarter, though. Plourde says Cascades lacked sufficient funds to fully cover raw material costs and production cost inflation in the second quarter for the Containerboard segment. Its second-quarter earnings presentation notes that old corrugated containers (OCC) prices were up in the second quarter compared with the first quarter of 2021 as well as compared with the second quarter of 2020, driven by high domestic demand and high export activity. Sorted office paper prices also rose in the second quarter of the year compared with the first quarter, negatively affecting raw material costs for Cascades.

The company’s Specialty Products division benefited from volume growth, helping to offset raw material costs, Plourde adds.

In July, just after the second quarter ended, Cascades announced that it would monetize its 57.6 percent controlling equity interest in Reno de Medici S.p.A. for 1.45 euros (about $1.71) per share, which the company says it expects to result in total net proceeds of $461 million. Reno de Medici operations include six recycled paperboard mills and two paperboard sheet mills located in France, Spain, Italy and Germany. The company says that transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of the year.

Plourde adds that he expects to see improved results in the third quarter, supported by the rollout of announced price increases in the company’s Containerboard and Specialty Products segments as well as a gradual normalization in demand for tissue products.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to bring with it the potential for volatility in operational and financial performance,” Plourde says. “As our second-quarter results highlight, continued fluctuations in demand as well as pricing of raw materials and other input costs remain difficult to accurately predict, as does the timing and scope of economic reopening across North America. We are focused on effectively managing these uncertainties, taking decisive and necessary steps to meet the sometimes changing needs of our customers while also ensuring the safety of our employees.”  

NWRA says upgrades would benefit waste workers that travel the nation's roadways every day.

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, joined other associations in a letter to senators urging support for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). 

According to a news release from the NWRA, the investments included in the bipartisan bill would facilitate needed infrastructure repairs and improvements. This includes $110 billion for roads and bridges and $66 billion for freight rails as well as other critical infrastructure needs.

“NWRA is proud to support robust investment in our infrastructure,” says NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith. “The waste and recycling industry and the U.S. Postal Service are the only two entities that travel every road in America at least once every week. This makes the waste and recycling industry one of the most significant stakeholders in the surface transportation system. We urge the Senate to pass this bipartisan infrastructure legislation.”

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, growing wear and tear roads have left 43 percent of public roadways in poor or mediocre condition, with an overall report card grade of D.