According to reports, the price of various plastic waste materials has risen.
According to sources, the price of natural and mixed-color high-density polyethylene (HDPE) has been rising so much that it can test the limits of some buyers.
Ajit Perera, vice president of post-consumer operations at Talco Plastics Inc., said that the price increase of mixed-color HDPE may test the needs of some consumers who tend to buy recycled materials due to cost advantages. It provides virgins. "Bargaining will happen next month," he said in mid-February, referring to manufacturers of nursery pots and similar items that are not as committed to using recycled materials as other companies.
Perera said that natural HDPE bottle bags sell for 60 to 65 cents per pound in California, while on the more competitive East Coast, the price of this material is close to 75 cents per pound.
He added that as of mid-February, the price of mixed-color HDPE bottle bags in California was 12-14 cents, a slight increase from 11-13 cents last month. Perera said that mixed-color HDPE bags on the East Coast were even more expensive, reaching a range of 20 cents in mid-February. Since December last year, the price of mixed HDPE packages on the East Coast has been at a low level of 20 cents.
Perera said that he expects the price of HDPE packages to continue to rise, especially with increasing demand from the pipeline and automotive industries.
He said that the increase in the price of mixed-color HDPE reflects the increase in the price of original HDPE. "When this happens, usually colors start to become scarce."
Contacts with the Midwest Material Recycling Facility (MRF), which handles residential and commercial materials, indicated that power generation in these two sectors has been stable. "Normal seasonal changes seem to be consistent with historical trends," he said, citing lower production of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and HDPE bottles.
He said that polypropylene (PP) bale prices are on the rise together with HDPE. "PP is very hot, the price has risen from 140 US dollars per ton in early January to more than 500 US dollars per ton currently. Natural baby bottles exceed 1,500 US dollars per ton."
MRF operators also stated that PET prices have started to rise due to expectations of summer demand.
"All these grades are responding to the increasing demands of consumers, and manufacturers are responding to this demand," he said. "In addition, due to the winter weather, power generation has dropped slightly and oil prices have risen."
He described the demand as stable, although some grades, including natural HDPE, are testing pricing constraints. "Colorful HDPE, LDPE (low density polyethylene), PP, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), HIPS (high impact polystyrene), PC (polycarbonate) and PET are all progressing with rising prices smoothly."
The MRF operator in the Midwest stated that expanded polystyrene (EPS) is an exception, and domestic demand is limited until April or May. "The demand for EPS is closed, which is a seasonal issue. At this time of year, the use of recycled EPS to make EPS and photo frames is at a low point."
Both pointed out the challenges in transportation.
The MRF operator stated: “In the past 10 months, due to the COVID problem and the shortage of drivers, domestic transportation prices have risen sharply.” “In some cases, depending on the distance to the buyer and the load weight, the increase in the sales price of materials cannot keep up. On the rise in transportation costs. In view of rising prices and some changes in alternatives, we have to re-evaluate our buyers."
He added: “Material prices are rising fast enough that it may not be competitive if orders are now accepted but shipments are delayed for two weeks or more.”
Pereira predicts that even after the pandemic is over, the trucking problem amplified by the pandemic will continue to exist.
He said his company is itemizing shipping costs and discounting its recycled materials when possible. "We are doing everything we can to reduce customer costs."
Wausau, Wisconsin worked with Betterbin and Rocket Industrial to provide residents with an app that provides recycling education.
Since the waste audit was conducted about two years ago, the removal of pollution from the residential recycling program has been the goal of the Wausau community in Wisconsin.
According to a press release issued by Wausau City, it conducted a waste audit in October 2019. The audit showed that 84% of the audited residential recycling vehicles contained some type of pollution.
"If residents don't put the correct materials in the recycling truck, we will defeat the entire purpose of the local recycling program," said MaryAnne Groat, Wausau's financial director and recycling coordinator. "Those unacceptable materials are just expensive trips from home to recycling facilities and then to landfill."
Therefore, the city’s sustainability, energy and environment committee voted to provide residents with more education about proper recycling. One way it does this is through a web-based application called Betterbin. The city officially launched a recycling education app for residents on February 15.
Michelle Goetsch, the CEO of Betterbin, based in Wisconsin, founded her company in 2018. She believes that data and technology can change the way consumers learn how to properly handle packaging materials. She said her goal is to provide consumers with accurate local, brand-specific product recall instructions. Goetsch said that she had no experience in the recycling industry when she started her business, but she is passionate about improving sustainable waste management in the community and knows recycling education can do better. She said that while building Betterbin, she had many conversations with solid waste management experts and material recovery facility (MRF) operators to understand the complexity of the US material recycling ecosystem. She said that since its launch in 2018, the pilot implementation of the app has been carried out in multiple communities, university campuses and one location on Airbnb.
"We are a start-up company, but we have conducted several pilot implementations to iterate our machine learning technology and how to increase user engagement," Goetsch said. "[Betterbin is still] a pilot because our technology will only continue to get better, and we have just started partnerships with brands that want to use our platform as an approach to environmentally responsible consumers. At this point , It’s operating at a high level, and it’s interesting to see user analytics to understand where consumers have the most problems and their willingness to learn more.”
In the past year, Wausau and the MRF that received its materials have worked with Betterbin to develop guidelines and content to be loaded into Betterbin's web-based application to ensure that it can provide residents with correct instructions on what to recycle and how to recycle.
“When materials enter our MRF, the app specifically looks at the materials accepted by Wausau residents,” said Grote of Wausau.
Goetsch added that Betterbin is a "web-based application", which means that it is a website that can be accessed on a normal computer or smartphone browser without committing to download the actual application.
"We originally intended to provide only a web-based application. The biggest reason we set up in this way is that it is difficult for someone to download something on their phone, especially if they are not too keen on recycling," she Say. "The web-based application is easier to access-you can use it on your desktop, if you spend the night in your travel destination, you can use it anytime, anywhere, but it looks and functions like an application on your mobile device ."
She added that the web-based application allows residents to find certain products by scanning barcodes or typing them on their smartphones to check if they are recyclable.
Rocket Industrial, a packaging solutions provider based in Wisconsin, also helped fund Wausau to create educational applications with Betterbin.
“As a supplier of packaging solutions for international brands, it is our responsibility to transfer as much recyclable packaging from landfills as possible,” said Ryan Gallagher, President of Rocket Industrial. “Having witnessed local pollution problems helps us better serve customers across the country. The opportunity to support local entrepreneurs in solving our community’s problems is the icing on the cake.”
Grote said the city plans to monitor pollution levels in its residential recycling program in the future.
Betterbin’s Goetsch said her team will also provide Wausau with additional promotional materials to provide residents with services such as emails that can send water bills in the first quarter of this year and what the city can share on social media information. She added that Betterbin has a "Tips and Tricks" section that updates thematic content monthly, such as details on how to recycle pet food packaging, and use the app to give gift cards to local businesses.
Groat added that she hopes that the new web-based application will provide residents with the educational components needed for proper recycling. She said she also hopes this will encourage more residents to make better purchases from the start.
"I think this can help people make better'pre-recycling' decisions," she said. "For example, I try to buy something with less packaging."
Goetsch added that Betterbin's future goal is to provide contract recycling services for any individual, building or community. "There is still a lot of room for improvement in helping consumers to recycle correctly," she said. "Our vision is to work directly with brands, MRF operators and local stakeholders to educate people appropriately on recycling, composting and food waste prevention, as well as the key concepts of reducing, reusing and becoming responsible consumers. Consumption. It is difficult for consumers to go to the grocery store to know what packaging is sustainable or recyclable. Our goal is to become a platform and a data pool to help consumers make purchase and disposal decisions, and put the environment and human health first. "
Suppliers are encouraged to submit written comments or make an appointment to discuss RFP with the Hillsborough County Solid Waste Department.
The Hillsboro County Commission (BOCC) in Florida stated that it will issue a request for proposal (RFP) for the design, build and operation (DBO) recyclable material processing facility (RMPF, or material recovery facility, MRF) later this year. . The county issued a conceptual draft of the RFP, and during the pre-RFP period, interested parties will publicly solicit comments within two weeks.
The county encourages suppliers to submit written comments or make appointments to discuss RFPs with their solid waste department. In addition, during the week of February 22, the county stated that it would hold a workshop to receive oral comments and considerations to incorporate it into its RFP methodology. According to the county, the final RFP may contain revisions based on the information collected during this public comment period.
Comments should not take the form of questions; instead, a question and answer time will be provided after the final RFP is issued. Submit a comment or schedule an appointment no later than February 25*, Friday, with:
Travis S. Barnes, MPA, LEED AP
Recycling Coordinator, Solid Waste Management Division, Ministry of Public Utilities
All interested vendors are encouraged to register with the county at www.hcflgov.net/vendors to obtain more information about this potential purchase. Other important information related to the draft and final RFP will be posted at www.hillsboroughcounty.org/en/businesses/doing-business-with-hillsborough/bid-opportunities-information.
The county encourages qualified suppliers to pay close attention to the progress of the consultation draft and conduct due diligence on the situation in the county as soon as possible. It is expected that Bank of China will issue the consultation draft in March 2021 and award the MRF contract in September 2021.
The county stated that it is evaluating some RFP concepts for consideration and approval by the BOCC:
The Austrian Packaging Company stated that it pledged to invest up to 60 million U.S. dollars each year to increase plastic recycling capacity.
The Austria-based Alpla Group stated that it has pledged to invest an average of up to 50 million euros (60.5 million US dollars) per year between 2021 and 2025 to further expand its recycling activities. The company specifically stated that it plans to globalize its activities "to end the material cycle in as many regions as possible."
In 2018, the Alpla Group signed a global commitment to a new plastics economy (an initiative of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation) and pledged to invest a total of US$60.5 million to extend its recycling activities to 2025. Alpla stated that it has raised this investment goal to spend an average of US$60.5 million per year on “fences dedicated to recycling”.
“We have been very active for the past two years,” said Georg Lässer, head of recycling at Alpla. "We have successfully launched bottle-to-bottle projects all over the world, including Asia, Europe and Central America. Despite this, we are still seeing increasing demand from customers all over the world. This continuous demand gives Alpla the opportunity to initiate further investment project."
Günther Lehner, chairman of the company’s advisory board, said: “Our goal is to establish a bottle-to-bottle cycle-including in areas where waste recycling does not currently account for a large proportion. Customers around the world have asked about packaging made of a certain percentage of recycled materials. Including Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, China and India.
He continued: “We have done pioneering work in factories in Austria and Poland. Day after day, we are proving that used packaging is valuable and that the circular economy has great potential. We hope to expand in more countries. Promote this understanding."
Alpla stated that its move to enter the field of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) recycling in 2019 is continuing and is building a plant in Toluca, Mexico, which is scheduled to start production this fall. The company is also working with business partners to build polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and HDPE recycling plants in Thailand.
The capacity of existing plants in Austria, Poland and Germany has been expanded in the past two years, and Alpla recently announced the installation of an rPET extrusion system at one of its precast plants in Italy. In total, the annual production capacity of Alpla recycling companies, joint ventures and partners is approximately 130,000 metric tons of PET and 60,000 metric tons of polyethylene (PE).
Alpla has approximately 21,600 employees worldwide and manufactures bottles, caps and molded parts in 178 factories in 45 countries. The packaging produced is used in a variety of applications, including food and beverages, cosmetics and care products, household detergents, detergents and cleaning agents, pharmaceutical products, engine oils and lubricants.
The Chicago-based auto parts recycler expects to "improve revenue trends" in 2021.
Chicago-based LKQ Corp. is an automotive dismantling and parts supplier with offices in North America, Europe and Taiwan. The company reported its fourth quarter and full year 2020 results, showing a revenue decline of 7%. But net income increased by 18.1%.
The company’s 2020 revenue was US$11.6 billion, a decrease of 7% from 2019 sales of US$12.5 billion, but its net profit in 2020 was US$639 million, an increase of 18.1% from 2019’s US$541 million .
The company stated that despite the interruption in revenue streams related to the "liquidity restrictions" caused by COVID-19, the favorable results "reflect continued improvements in operations and balance sheet productivity and further debt reduction."
Dominick Zarcone, President and CEO of LKQ, said: “Although we face headwinds throughout 2020, we are able to execute our key operating plans to pursue profitable revenue, increase profit margins, and generate free cash flow.” “In addition, our team is in The cost reductions implemented in 2020 in response to the impact of the pandemic on demand are lessons we will apply to our operations in 2021 and beyond."
Zarcone added: “Looking forward to the coming year, I believe that our operating strength, balance sheet and free cash flow will enable LKQ to achieve steady growth and value creation for our stakeholders.”
Varun Laroyia, Chief Financial Officer of LKQ, commented: “Although the recovery of mileage in the fourth quarter slowed down, we expect to gradually recover in the second half of the year as vaccination efforts begin. The improvement in revenue trends coupled with the improvement in our cost structure , Should promote the improvement of profitability relative to 2020, and contribute to another strong cash generation year."
Baltimore-based Stifel Financial Corp.'s securities analyst Michael E. Hoffman is optimistic about the results. He wrote: "We reiterate our'buy' rating on LKQ Corp., the top choice for diversified industries. Although macro factors may be disruptive, LKQ’s sales performance exceeded, EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization] and FCF [free cash flow], organic sales growth of parts and services in the United States declined slightly, but organic sales of parts and services in the European Union Growth is better."