Nonmetallics

ISO Introduces Standards for Plastics Recycling

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has introduced a new standard that targets the plastic recovery and recycling industry.

ISO 15270:2008, Plastics, provides guidelines for the recovery and recycling of plastic scrap.

ISO says the new standard has been designed to help companies in the plastic industry develop a sustainable global infrastructure for plastics recovery and recycling as well as a sustainable market for recovered plastics materials and their derived manufactured products.

ISO 15270:2008 establishes different options for the recovery of plastic scrap arising from pre-consumer and post-consumer sources. The standard is intended to assist in the selection of methodologies and processes for the management of post-use plastics that may be approached using various strategies.

The standard also establishes the quality requirements that should be considered in all steps of the recovery process. Selection of any one of the available recycling options should be based on compliance with the following requirements: the need to minimize adverse environmental impact; prior demonstration of sustainable commercial viability; and secure access to viable systems for collection and quality control.

California City Receives Grants to Use Recycled Tires

The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) has awarded $300,000 in grants that will go to resurfacing roads in Chino, Calif., with material made from recycled tires, the Daily Bulletin (Ontario, Calif.) reports.

The two state grants will fund the use of rubberized asphalt concrete as part of a statewide initiative to recycle used tires.

According to the report, the rubberized surfacing will be used on about four miles of road. City officials estimate that resurfacing one mile of one lane will use approximately 2,000 scrap tires.

V.C. Firm Aquires Graham Packaging

Hicks Acquisition Co. Inc., a Dallas-based special-purpose acquisition company, has reached an agreement in principle, subject to execution, with Graham Packaging, a plastics packaging firm based in York, Pa., which was expected to be finalized at the end of July.

The agreement will result in Graham Packaging going public through a transaction with Hicks Acquisition in partnership with The Blackstone Group and the Graham Group. The transaction will be valued at about $3.2 billion.

The combined enterprise will be renamed Graham Packaging Co. and will apply for listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Blackstone, an investment firm that bought a major interest in Graham Packaging in 1998, has agreed to maintain the largest ownership stake for at least two years as it continues to play an important role in guiding the company strategically and operationally.

Graham Packaging provides blow-molded rigid plastic containers for food, beverage and household and automotive products, producing more than 20 billion container units annually at 83 manufacturing plants in North America, Europe and South America.

Recycling Companies Take on Ag Plastics

Bueckers City Sanitation and AGSI Recycling have announced a recovery program targeting agricultural plastics.

BCS is collecting agricultural plastic for the Minnesota pilot program through Aug. 31, 2008, throughout Stearns County at its facility in Sauk Centre. In the first 20 days of the program, BCS amassed more than 75,000 pounds of ag bags, with more coming in daily, the company says.

After collection, BCS hauls the baled plastic to the AGSI facility in Savage, Minn., to be processed into pellets used to make plastic lumber for decking.

Area farmers have been encouraged to bring their agricultural plastic (which includes bags, silage bags, plastic film/shrink wrap, plastic containers and plastic twine/netting) to Bueckers’ facility for free.

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August 2008
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