Packaging firm says it increased recycled content in some of its products in 2021.
Sabert Corp., a Sayreville, New Jersey-based food packaging producer, says its 2021 Sustainability Report highlights several programs, including an “update on the positive impacts delivered from Nuvida, Sabert’s fully owned, comprehensive recycling plant.”
According to Sabert, its Nuvida plant in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, accepted more than 8,000 tons of postconsumer plastic scrap in 2021, representing a 117 percent increase from the 2020 volume. The Nuvida plant was established in 2012 and 2013 to create food-grade polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) recycled-content resins, according to its website.
“In 2021, our recycled content in our plastics products rebounded to 14 percent, of which 42 percent was postconsumer recycled resin (PCR),” the packaging firm says.
“Sabert is in a unique position to significantly contribute to a more sustainable future for not just our company but for our customers, too,” says Albert Salama, founder and CEO of Sabert. “Across our facilities, we have made great progress toward our sustainability goals, and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve accomplished to date. Still, we know we have more work to do. Today and well into the future, we will continue to find new ways to protect the environment, strengthen our communities and drive the responsible growth of our organization.”
Sabert includes the Nuvida operation in the Smart Sourcing section of what it calls its Earthtelligent platform, tied to its Global Strategic Commitment 2025. Other categories include Waste Reduction, Research & Reinvention, Education & Advocacy, Energy Conservation, Workplace Diversity and Health & Safety.
In its Research & Reinvention category, Sabert says globally it launched 131 products in 2021, of which 84 (64 percent) “are either recyclable, compostable or are made with recycled or renewable content.”
The company states, “Sabert’s New Product Development team prioritizes uncovering manufacturing efficiencies and more sustainable solutions every day. The team also sets aside approximately 20 percent of [its] time annually to work on Blue Sky development projects, which are aimed at applying creative use of design and materials to solve our most pressing sustainability issues.”
Within its Education & Advocacy category, Sabert says in 2021 it conducted more than two dozen meetings with customers “to share our sustainability program and efforts, understand their sustainability goals and engage in two-way dialogue on how we can work together to make single-use packaging more sustainable.”
In addition to plastic recycling as a Smart Sourcing effort, Sabert in 2021 opened a new facility in Greenville, Texas, that makes what it calls bio-based and compostable pulp food packaging.
On the Waste Reduction front in 2021, Sabert says it reduced its “absolute waste generation by 7 percent and landfill waste by 17 percent from all our reporting plants.”
Sabert, founded in 1983, operates North American facilities in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia and manufacturing facilities in Nivelles, Belgium; Kimbolton, United Kingdom; Lodz, Poland; and Zhongshan, China.
Not-for-profit group advocates for federal emissions oversight of chemical recycling plants.
Ocean Conservancy, a nongovernmental organization based in Washington, says it is working closely with more than two dozen members of Congress to initiate a request to regulate plastic scrap treated with gasification and pyrolysis methods—two forms of chemical recycling technologies—as “municipal waste combustion units.”
The effort has already drawn the attention of the Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC), which expressed its opposition to the idea earlier this month.
Ocean Conservancy says it is backing the move at the same time “the plastics industry mounts an aggressive lobbying campaign to promote these technologies as solutions to the ocean plastics crisis despite serious environmental and community consequences.”
On April 29, the NGO says Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) were joined by 23 other members of Congress in sending a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies requesting the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate plastic scrap gasification and pyrolysis plants, citing a provision of the Clean Air Act.
“The truth is that right now pyrolysis, gasification and other chemical recycling technologies are just a fancy way to say, ‘burning plastics for energy,’ and this simply isn’t compatible with a healthy, plastic-free ocean,” says Dr. Anja Brandon, U.S. Plastics Policy Analyst at Ocean Conservancy.
Brandon adds, “Burning plastics emits greenhouse gases and countless toxic chemicals and incentivizes industry to continue unfettered plastics production instead of investing in a working recycling system. To keep plastics out of our ocean, we need to make less plastic, and better recycle what we already have; expanding chemical recycling will kill any chance we have of accomplishing either.”
The letter, sent to Subcommittee Chair Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Ranking Member David Joyce (R-OH), stated in part that “these chemical recycling technologies contribute to climate change, cause harmful health impacts in the surrounding communities, and do not represent a solution to the plastic pollution crisis. Chemical recycling does not represent a viable path forward to achieving a circular economy.”
Kathy Tsantiris, associate director of government relations at Ocean Conservancy, says, “This language still has a long way to go, but the letter sends a clear signal that regulating chemical recycling is a growing environmental priority.”
In its reply to the request, the ACC portrays chemical recycling (which it also calls “advanced recycling”) in a completely different light. The trade group says there currently are “seven commercial-scale advanced recycling facilities” and others “leveraging existing chemical manufacturing infrastructure to make virgin-quality plastic from used plastics in the U.S.”
ACC calls it “just the beginning of a massive wave of new projects” that can “reduce greenhouse gas emissions 43 percent relative to waste-to-energy incineration of plastic films made from virgin-resources.”
The company is reporting record revenue and says it saw "impressive" adjusted earnings growth despite inflationary challenges.
WestRock Co., an Atlanta-based containerboard and packaging producer, has reported its second-quarter 2022 financial results for the period ending March 31, and the company says it delivered what it's calling an "outstanding" quarter.
The company reported net sales of $5.4 billion, up 21.3 percent year over year, with its packaging sales up 15 percent and paper sales up 36 percent year over year "driven by successful implementation of price increases and solid demand."
WestRock's net income declined $73 million to $40 million year over year, or 64.5 percent, while its adjusted net income increased $164 million, or 112.9 percent. to $309 million. The company says its second-quarter net income was impacted by $363 million of pretax restructuring and other costs, or $1.04 per diluted share, which it says primarily was associated with the previously announced closure of the Panama City, Florida, paper mill.
In early April, the company announced that the mill would close by early June of this year. The Panama City mill produces containerboard—primarily heavyweight kraft—and fluff pulp, with a combined annual capacity of 645,000 tons. At the time of the announcement, WestRock said the mill would require significant capital investment to maintain and improve going forward, and that the production of fluff pulp is not a priority in the company's strategy to focus on higher-value markets.
WestRock says select grades of containerboard will be produced at other facilities and employees are to receive severance and outplacement assistance. The financial impact of the closure is $450 million of one-time costs and approximately $65 million impact to annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).
Included in the Q2 2022 financial report was a record consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $854 million, a 33-percent year-over-year increase, and an adjusted earnings per share of $1.17, up 117 percent.
WestRock says cost inflation and supply chain disruptions negatively impacted earnings, noting key drivers as fiber, labor, freight, energy and chemicals, but CEO David B. Sewell says, "We delivered an outstanding second quarter, reporting record revenue and impressive adjusted earnings growth despite facing challenges from inflation, higher supply chain costs and labor shortages."
He adds, "This strong performance speaks to the resiliency of our broad portfolio and the resolve of our 50,000 talented employees. We remain focused on execution and today have increased the midpoint of our full-year guidance."
The company reports total revenue growth of 14 percent and net income of $352 million.
Republic Services Inc., Pheonix, has released its financial results for the first quarter of 2022, reporting strong growth, attributable to its focus on profitably growing the recycling and solid waste business and expanding its environmental solutions business.
"Our strong start to the year was made possible through the execution of our strategy that is designed to generate profitable growth," says Jon Vander Ark, president and CEO of Republic. "We delivered double-digit growth in revenue, EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and free cash flow while making investments to expand our environmental solutions business and further build our differentiated capabilities."
The company reports net income of $352 million, or $1.11 per diluted share, for Q1 2022 compared with $295.9 million, or 93 cents per diluted share, in Q1 2021. Excluding certain benefits and expenses, on an adjusted basis, net income was $360.7 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, versus $297.2 million, or 93 cents per diluted share, for the comparable 2021 period.
First-quarter earnings per share (EPS) were $1.11 and adjusted EPS, a nongenerally accepted accounting principle measure, was $1.14 per share. Cash provided by operating activities was $705.6 million, an increase of 6.7 percent compared with the prior year. Adjusted free cash flow was $530.9 million, an increase of 14.4 percent compared with Q1 2021.
Republic says its first-quarter net income was $352 million, or 11.9 percent of revenue. First-quarter adjusted EBITDA was $903.5 million, and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 30.4 percent of revenue compared with 30.7 percent during Q1 2021.
Republic says it invested $65.6 million in acquisitions in the first quarter. This includes closing on the acquisition of US Ecology May 2. The company says the contribution from US Ecology for the remaining eight months of the year will be about $720 million for adjusted EBITDA of about $130 million, including $5 million of realized synergies.
Total cash returned to shareholders was $349.4 million, including $203.5 million of share repurchases and $145.9 million of dividends paid. Revenue growth from average yield was 4.2 percent, and volume increased by 3.6 percent.
Core price increased revenue by 6 percent and consisted of 7.6 percent in the open market and 3.5 percent in the restricted portion of the business. The average yield on total revenue was 4.2 percent, representing an increase of 80 basis points when compared with the Q4 performance of 2021.
The company's average recycled commodity price per ton sold during the first quarter was $201. This represents a decrease of $17 per ton from the fourth quarter of 2021 and an increase of $68 per ton over the prior year.
“Our results demonstrate the positive impact our strategic investments are making in the business, not only for today but for years to come,” Vander Ark says.
The company says the price hike is in response to inflationary cost increases.
Packaging producer Greif, headquartered in Delaware, Ohio, has announced a price increase for all grades of uncoated recycled paperboard (URB) and coated recycled paperboard (CRB) effective with new orders and shipments on and after June 6.
Both URB and CRB prices will be increased by $50 per ton.
The company says the recycled paperboard increases are in response inflationary cost increases in transportation, energy, labor, chemicals, maintenance and other raw materials and continued strong demand across the Greif paperboard and converting network.
Recent data suggests transportation and warehousing costs aren't coming down anytime soon. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a 4.5 percent increase in the producer price index from February to March.
The company's previous two price increases were less than 1 percent.