The company plans to sort mixed plastics and to produce recycled HDPE, PET and PP pellets and flakes at its “SuperPRF” in Erie, Pennsylvania.
International Recycling Group (IRG), headquartered in Erie, Pennsylvania, has finalized the purchase of 25.48 acres at the former Hammermill Paper site at 1565 E. Lake Rd. from SB3 LLC for $1.23 million, the company’s founder and Chairman Mitch Hecht says. At the site, the company plans to construct what it is calling a “SuperPRF,” or a plastics recovery facility, that will accept all forms of postuse plastics, including cups, lids, tubs and other single-use plastics that it sources primarily from material recovery facilities (MRFs). It also will produce 10,000 tons per month of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) pellets and flakes.
“In practice, we will try to bring in everything and sort for its best and highest use,” Hecht says.
Plastics that IRG doesn’t recycle on-site will be sold to other mechanical recyclers. It also will use residual materials to produce CleanRed, an iron-reducing agent used in steel production. Steelmakers in Japan and Europe are using CleanRed, he says. “We are bringing that technology to the states.”
However, Hecht adds, “If a chemical recycler that is able to provide us with a value proposition that gets us more value [for the residual material], we’re open to selling to them as well.”
By using CleanRed to replace metallurgical coal, Hecht says, steel producers can lower their costs and reduce their CO2 emissions by more than 30 percent. “You can replace a ton of coal roughly with a ton of our material."
IRG is in the process of finalizing a long-term off-take contract for CleanRed with a large U.S. steelmaker, he adds.
Hecht says he sees this technology as a bridge until recycling capacity in the U.S. expands and high-margin applications are more broadly available for end-of-life plastics.
The site is opportunity zone-qualified, meaning that IRG will realize tax benefits from locating there. Erie offers easy access to the Midwest and North Atlantic, as well, with half the U.S. population being within a 150-mile radius of the site, Hecht says. Pennsylvania also is home to a sizable plastic manufacturing economy.
He adds that IRG is working with the Erie branch of Penn State, one of the country’s largest polymer research institutes, on R&D for recycling applications.
The company plans to construct a 350,000-square-foot building at the former Hammermill site, with all inventory management occurring under roof, Hecht says. In addition to bale breaking and sorting equipment that includes optical sorters, robotics and artificial intelligence, the site will have shredding, washing and pelletizing operations.
“There’s nothing you don’t see in every MRF and recycling plant,” Hecht says. What will be different, he adds, is the scale and the flexibility IRG will have on the front end of its system that will allow the company “to accept and handle more difficult material that MRFs are loath to deal with.”
He says the company will purchase HDPE, PET and PP bales as well as Nos. 3-7 bales.
“The market is moving in the direction of MRFs having to open their doors to collecting all plastics,” Hecht says, as a result of consumer and legislative pressures. He says IRG plans to be a partner to MRFs by investing in “robust” equipment to handle every type of plastic and every form factor.
“We hope over time they will come to see our large scale regional plant as an outsourcing service for all plastics.”
Within 10 to 15 years, he says, IRG would like to site an additional 10 to 15 facilities that are comparable in size to the Erie plant.
Hect says construction on the building will begin in the first quarter of next year, with commissioning and start-up expected in the second half of 2024.
The company is funded in part by Erie Insurance, which invested $6 million in the company through its Opportunity Zone Fund, and Plastek, which purchased a $3 million equity stake in IRG’s parent company, GreenSteel LLC.
Steven F. Bouck and Allen Jacoby bring more than 50 years of experience to the board and will help PureCycle continue to advance its mission and business objectives.
PureCycle, Orlando, Florida, has announced the appointment of two members to its board of directors: Steven F. Bouck, former president of Waste Connections Inc., The Woodlands, Texas, and Allen Jacoby, chief strategy officer and senior vice president of corporate development for Milliken & Co., Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Together, Bouck and Jacoby bring more than 50 years of experience to the board and will help PureCycle continue to advance its mission and business objectives.
"We are thrilled to expand our board with the addition of Allen and Steven who will bring deep industry and recycling knowledge to our bench,” says Mike Otworth, chairman of the board and CEO of PureCycle. “We have worked hard to ensure our board represents the different experiences within our industry, and our two new members are no exception. They are both proven and successful leaders and will serve PureCycle well."
Bouck has worked for Waste Connections for more than 20 years, serving first as its chief financial officer and then as president until his departure in 2018. Before joining Waste Connections, he developed financial services experience, focusing on the environmental industry, through his roles with First Analysis Corp. Bouck currently does not serve on any other public company boards.
"I am grateful and excited for the opportunity to join PureCycle's Board of Directors,” Bouck says. “Being connected to an innovative and entrepreneurial organization is an exciting new challenge, and I look forward to bringing my finance and environmental experience to this top-notch team."
Jacoby has more than 30 years of leadership experience serving in top roles in research and development, manufacturing, strategy, and finance within the plastics and technology industries. He has spent 19 years at Milliken, working his way from business manager to his current role as chief strategy officer and senior vice president of corporate development. Jacoby currently does not serve on any other public company boards.
"I am ready to roll up my sleeves and begin working with my fellow board members to achieve PureCycle's overall mission of revolutionizing plastic waste into a renewable resource,” Jacoby says. “PureCycle is a leader in the plastics recycling technology space, and I look forward to helping guide the company through commercialization."
PureCycle also announced the resignation of Richard Brenner from PureCycle's board of directors. Brenner submitted his resignation from the board to focus more time on his increasing business obligations outside of PureCycle. Brenner was appointed an inaugural member of PureCycle's public company board in March 2021.
"We are incredibly thankful for Rick's service and longstanding commitment to PureCycle,” Otworth says. “We have benefitted significantly from the leadership and insight he brought to the board. Rick has been a positive force from the creation of our company to listing as a public company and we are grateful for his contributions."
With the two new appointments and Brenner's resignation, PureCycle says its board is comprised of eight members, six of whom have been deemed independent under NASDAQ listing rules.
Fastfeed Corp.'s product line includes vibratory feeders and turnkey systems, like pick-and-place, dial assembly, robotic and vision systems.
Cleveland-based The Cleveland Vibrator Co. (CVC), a manufacturer of custom industrial vibrators and vibratory equipment, has acquired Fastfeed Corp. in Lodi, Ohio.
"We are excited to add the manufacturing, design and problem-solving capabilities of Fastfeed," says Craig Macklin, CEO of CVC. "This acquisition immediately enhances our offerings and value to our customers as a single-source provider of vibratory solutions for flow and processing challenges with bulk material and parts."
According to a news release from CVC, Fastfeed Corp. is a provider of automation systems for parts alignment, feeding and handling. The company was founded in 1997 and designs systems that solve customer application problems. The company’s product line includes vibratory feeders and turnkey systems, like pick-and-place, dial assembly, robotic and vision systems.
Fastfeed's facility in Lodi will remain in operation. The company anticipates adding a handful of jobs between the Lodi and Cleveland locations during the next few years.
"Since Fastfeed was founded by my family in 1997, the company has been committed to designing unique systems that solve customer application problems," says Dan Reed, president of Fastfeed. "We look forward to growth and penetrating new markets as part of Cleveland Vibrator Co."
Association says sorting, remelting “efficiency rate” outdistances competing beverage containers.
The London-based International Aluminium Institute (IAI) says research it has commissioned into the recycling of three beverage container materials – aluminum, glass and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic – has shown that aluminum cans “best support a circular economy.”
The study found that compared with aluminum cans, more glass and plastic bottles end up in landfills because they are not collected. In addition, once collected, losses in the recycling/processing system are three times higher for PET and glass bottles compared with aluminum cans.
United Kingdom-based Eunomia Research and Consulting, on behalf of the IAI, studied data in five regions: Brazil, China, Europe, Japan and the United States. It looked at the end-of-life processing losses for aluminum cans, glass bottles and PET bottles. The study looked at collection, sorting, reprocessing and thermal processing and both “closed-loop recycling and open-loop recycling.”
“While no drinks container has achieved its full circularity potential yet, aluminum outperforms glass and plastics (PET) at all stages of the waste management system,” states Ramon Arratia, a vice president with container producer Ball Corp.
The IAI calls aluminum cans “the most recycled beverage containers globally.” Adds the organization, “Once the aluminum can is collected from the consumer, it has an unrivaled sorting, reprocessing and remelting efficiency rate of 90 percent,” which it says compares with 67 percent for glass and 66 percent for PET.
Andrew Wood of Australia-based Alumina Ltd. says, “The number of aluminum cans collected at the end of their life is about 18 percent higher than PET bottles and 28 percent higher than glass. A greater proportion of PET and one-way glass bottles end up in landfills or waterways because they are not collected. In a decarbonizing world, this is likely to contribute to higher demand for both recycled and primary aluminum.”
According to the IAI, the aluminum can was first mass-produced by U.S.-based Coors Brewing Co. in the 1950s “to improve the taste of beer and provide a more sustainable container than steel cans.”
Marlen Bertram, IAI director of scenarios and forecasts, says, “As the Institute celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, we have been reflecting on our organization’s long history of data collection, analysis and modeling. Aluminum is one of the most recyclable materials on the planet and the IAI is campaigning to ensure end-of-life products are returned into the recycling loop given the economic and environmental benefits of the metal in our global economy. Comparing recycling rates of different materials is meaningless if you don't know how the rate is measured and into what products the material is recycled back to. This study is the first public study that comprehensively analyzes the extent of recycling and losses of three beverage containers in different regions. By increasing the precision of identifying where major losses occur, the study could provide solutions to improving the rate of recycling for all materials. We are clearly in a new era in circularity transparency.”
Emilio Braghi, president of Novelis Europe, adds, “Collection and sorting systems are essential to increasing circularity and to unlocking the full potential of infinitely recyclable materials. We need a policy framework that incentivizes true recycling and circular systems, where at the end of their life, beverage containers are recycled again and again – without loss to quality. Aluminum is perfectly suited for multiple product-to-product recycling. We need to move our thinking from waste to valuable resource – reusing existing material to produce new packaging and thereby saving precious natural resources, energy and lowering emissions.”
Those interested in accessing the full study can go to this web page.
The equipment will go to PureCycle’s Augusta, Georgia, facility.
Koch Modular Process Systems LLC, Paramus, New Jersey, a provider of engineered and fabricated modular reaction and mass transfer systems, has announced that it is expanding its ongoing business relationship with PureCycle Technologies Inc., Orlando, Florida.
The company says it will supply the modular recycling systems for PureCycle’s second facility, which will be in Augusta, Georgia. The deal is part of a multiyear master services agreement (MSA). The MSA establishes the applicable cost framework, schedule structure, scope of supply, division of responsibility, execution specifications and terms and conditions for future recycling plants.
Under the agreement, Koch Modular will supply the modularly constructed polypropylene (PP) recycling systems, starting with PureCycle’s newest facility in Augusta, Georgia. Future projects will include both domestic and international sites, the company says.
“As PureCycle continues to grow, there is a clear need to expand our relationship with a partner that fully understands the history of our disruptive technology,” says Dustin Olson, the chief manufacturing officer at PureCycle. “Our goal is one billion pounds of like-new, ultra-pure recycled plastic production capacity. With Koch Modular, I am confident that we will succeed.”
Last year, PureCycle announced plans to develop a $440 million facility that will produce ultra-pure recycled polypropylene from PP scrap. The facility will be located on 200-acre in Augusta Corporate Park, and each of the three lines will have up to 130 million pounds of annual capacity during Phase 1 of the project. The facility could expand to five lines in the future.
PureCycle and Koch Modular have worked together for more than six years. Most recently, Koch was awarded the design and construction of PureCycle’s Phase II commercial ultra-pure recycled PP facility located in Ironton, Ohio, in 2020. PureCycle’s technology and process removes color, odor and other contaminants from PP plastic scrap, resulting in like-new material that can be recycled repeatedly.