Plastics

In addition to soaring metals prices providing a boost for electronics recyclers, the developing demand for plastic scrap is also helping the bottom line of companies that process end-of-life electronics.

Attendees heard some encouraging remarks at a session on the plastics portions of the electronics stream at the 2007 ISRI (Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.) Convention & Exhibition, which was April 18-21 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

Butler-MacDonald, Indianapolis, Ind., has helped OEMs set up their own recovery systems in some cases, reported Terrence P. Bradshaw, a vice president with the company.

Recycling systems the company has set up for toner and printer cartridge manufacturers are producing HIPS pellets and flake that can garner from 42 to 63 cents per pound when the product is clean enough to be used in the same application through a closed-loop process.

The attractive pricing for the secondary commodities is a long way from the 5 to 12 cents per pound such pellets and flakes might be attracting in the export markets, according to Bradshaw.

Such closed-loop systems can provide a marked contrast to the streams created at some electronics recycling facilities, where the wide variety of incoming obsolete electronics can make achieving high returns difficult. Mike Wright of Denver’s Guaranteed Recycling Xperts said recycling plastic at his facility "presents challenges because of all the commingled resin types."

Wright expressed optimism, however, that the "challenge is going to be solved" by innovative separating and sorting techniques. "As techniques improve, that challenge will solve itself." (For more on this topic and one company’s approach to it, see the Electronics Recycling Series feature starting on p. 116.)

(Additional news about plastics recycling markets is available online at www.RecyclingToday.com.)

ICIS pricing (www.icispricing.com), a global information provider to the chemical and oil industries, launched a weekly pricing report for the European Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (RPET; www.icispricing.com/il_shared/Chemicals/SubPage621.asp) market last year in the midst of high crude and virgin PET prices. Since the fall, however, prices have softened, chiefly because of a partial withdrawal of Chinese buyers from the European market, according to the report.

With fewer post-consumer bottles, either baled or shredded, leaving the local arena, the balance of supply and demand shifted in favor of local buyers, according to ICIS. The fiber market, which uses recycled PET for applications such as fleece and toys, has experienced a decline in prices of cotton. When coupled with European Uinion trade quotas for textiles, this resulted in lower demand by Chinese buyers for recycled material from Europe, according to the company.

Report editor Peter Gerrard says, "Prices of Recycled PET, as in the virgin PET market, are subject to the seasonal variations reflecting consumption of cold beverages and, as a result, prices in the winter should be high and supply low. This was not the case last winter because of the decline in Chinese interest. Converters also amassed larger stocks to see them through the winter in order to avoid the usual problem of availability in that season."

However, more recently, there have been signs that values of bottles and flakes have begun to firm up again.

However, the approach of warmer weather means greater consumption of cold beverages, which always stimulates the supply of recyclers’ raw material, which should begin to exert downward pressure on prices throughout the sector unless there are any significant deviations from the normal seasonal pattern, according to ICIS’s analysis.

"The background to the European recycled PET market is still strong, with national collection rates increasing and the market is expanding in new processing and end-user applications," Gerrard says.

ICIS reports on weekly price assessments of the recycled PET market with details for bottle, flake and food grade. The report also contains market intelligence and commentary on the demand and supply situation, EU legislation, export demand from the Far East, production news, state of the virgin PET market and trends and developments in the recycling industry.

The state of Ohio has awarded money to three companies through its Business Development grant program. Of the three grants issued, a grant for $25,000 will be going to a plastics recycling firm based in Reno, Ohio.

Mondo Polymer Technology is receiving a grant of $25,000 for costs associated with the acquisition of machinery and equipment. The company is a recycler of low-end films (polybags, shrink and stretch wraps, among other types of plastic.)

The company is looking to build a new 84,000-square-foot facility to be used as a manufacturing plant and administrative offices.

Equipment to be purchased includes fire suppression equipment, specialized recycling shredders, extruders, a mixing silo, granulators, conveyors and related equipment.

The project is expected to cost around $3.8 million.

"The projects approved for state assistance today represent the very best of Ohio’s traditional manufacturing strengths, as well as job creation in growing high-tech fields," Lt. Gov. Fisher, who also serves as Director of the Ohio Department of Development, said. "I want to commend each company for considering Ohio for projects that will help further develop our existing business base and boost new and growing industry sectors in the state."

Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher also announced that the Ohio Tax Credit Authority has approved Job Creation Tax Credits for a plastics recycling company, one of 16 firms that recently received the credits.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved credits that would help to create 1,961 jobs and keep 1,794 through $460 million in projects throughout the state.

Plastic Recycling Technology Inc. (PRT), which is relocated to Spring Creek Township, Ohio, has been awarded a 30 percent tax credit for a seven-year term. The value of the tax credit is estimated at $31,127 over the term, and the company would be required to maintain operations at the project site for 14 years.

PRT recycles plastic industrial scrap generated within the state and throughout the Midwest. The company also recycles post-consumer, post-commercial and post-industrial plastics by converting the plastic scrap into plastic pellets and densified and ground plastic, which are sold to plastic product manufacturers.

The company proposes to establish its headquarters and manufacturing operations in the state. It has plans to purchase new machinery and to invest in facility improvements. PRT will lease a 416,000-square-foot facility.

The $2 million project is expected to create 25 jobs and retain 40 positions within the first three years.