Solution at the source

The objective of Ocean Plastic Technologies always has been clear: to cut through logistical and economic challenges and make plastic recycling more accessible to communities lacking the infrastructure.

The company, established in South Africa in 2016, has developed a micro recycling pod (MRP) and deployed it in six rural and lower-income communities across that country to help address social, economic and environmental challenges. The portable machine fits inside a 20-foot shipping container and can be stationed at or near sites where plastic scrap is generated. It also can be customized to fully process any type of plastic into flakes or pellets to be sold for manufacturing.

Since 2022, Ocean Plastic Technologies USA (OPT USA), the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based subsidiary of Ocean Plastic Technologies, has sought to deliver MRPs to various locations—from farms to factories to entertainment venues—with a hope of closing recycling gaps throughout the Americas.

OPT USA President and CEO Americas Michael Vincent has 35 years of experience working in logistics for firms such as FreightWaves and Xpress Global Systems and has applied that knowledge to recycling along with co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Martin, who moved to Tennessee from South Africa to help launch the business.

“With this technology, we can solve what I believe—and others believe—is a logistics problem of getting material from my hand, for example, into recycling and then back into manufacturing as quickly as possible,” Vincent says. “That’s the issue. Throwing [plastic] into the garbage and then trying to sort through millions of tons of garbage is not an economically viable way to recycle.

“What we saw was the opportunity to get recycling into places that are not big enough sources economically for larger recyclers to really worry about since it doesn’t work in their economic interest. If you scale it down, it [works] and it also gives you the ability to utilize this kind of sniper-rifle approach instead of the shotgun approach to mine or go after specific sources of plastics that right now are difficult [to recycle] or not recycled,” he adds.

Making an impact

In South Africa, the company seeks to recycle plastics while also lifting up economically disadvantaged residents. Martin says the company’s business model is to create “entrepreneurial opportunities for the community to put the power into their hands to clean up their communities and monetize the waste.”

Ocean Plastic Technologies works with nonprofits in those communities that oversee the daily MRP operations and employ locals to collect plastic scrap for processing. In exchange, those resident-collectors are paid in coupons to local grocers that can be redeemed for basic goods, such as bread, milk, beans and rice. The company does not use cash because of security concerns.

“[People] in these communities might not even have running water or electricity, and they’re getting their water from the rivers,” Martin says. “So, as you can imagine, waste management is nonexistent. With our machines placed in the communities, they are seeing value in their plastic waste and now bringing it down to our central hub where they get paid.

“We’re finding that the model’s working really well because a lot of these communities don’t have access to transport,” he continues. “Even if there’s a recycling center 10 or 15 miles down the road, they wouldn’t be able to get to that recycling center. [With the MRPs], you have some bringing their vehicles, but a lot of [scrap] is just brought on foot in a garbage bag daily, so they can go buy their bread and milk and feed their families for the day.”

Vincent wants to maintain the spirit of social impact while expanding OPT USA’s footprint. Earlier this year, the company deployed a MRP in Chattanooga.

“The opportunities are there [across the Americas],” he says. “You’ve got the islands of the Caribbean that are completely dependent on tourism, for example, and have no recycling processes. So, obviously, they have a little bit more of a difficult economic time, and there’s those opportunities there. … Keeping that [social impact] aspect to the company is very important to us.”

The process

The MRP measures 18 feet long and 9 feet tall and runs on about 90 amps, with its noise level registering at about 85 decibels. The machine is assembled by the company in South Africa before shipping and is ready to use as soon as it is connected to a power source. In four steps, it can turn any type of plastic, including hard-to-recycle materials such as films and rigids, into flakes or pellets.

Scrap first is fed into a 2 ½-foot-by-2 ½-foot shredder box outfitted with 20 blades that can be customized to process whichever plastic type a user specifies at a rate of roughly 500 pounds per hour.

“With higher volumes [of scrap], we can add a portable conveyor hopper system,” Martin says. “So, you can just dump bags, and it takes [the material] up.”

Once shredded, the plastic goes through a two-stage cleaning process where jet nozzles spray the material with water and a cleaning solution, depending on the contamination level. Around 55 to 60 gallons of water are stored in a tank at the bottom of the machine and can be changed once a month or sooner, depending on what materials the MRP is processing.

During this process, water flows from the bottom of the shredder down into the secondary wash where additional jet nozzles are set up, then drains back into the tank through a two-stage filtration system with a water pump that continues circulating. “Once the water has reached the saturation level with contamination, then we just pump that out,” Martin says. “You’re looking at 55 to 60 gallons of water. Once it’s gone through the whole process, that can be used as irrigation water, for example.”

In the third stage, the plastic is dried as it passes through a serpentine tube system. From there, it heads into a granulator where the remaining moisture is removed and the plastic can be pelletized or made into flakes ranging from 6 millimeters to 10 millimeters, depending on specification.

“Our solutions are customized to our customers’ application, so if it’s postconsumer waste, then our system is going to be different than the system for agricultural waste,” Martin says. “It’s the same with the pelletizing of it. If it’s postconsumer, it comes out as flake. If we’re going to be processing forms, it’s going to come out as a cold-rolled pellet because it’s more desirable for manufacturers and for their own densification and transportation of it.”

OPT USA works with MRP users via offtake agreements and handles the logistics of transporting gaylord containers of processed plastics away from a site and finding a buyer for them, sharing a percentage of the revenue with the client. Vincent adds that a site using an MRP can run the machine daily with its own staff, though OPT USA could staff the machine instead. One to two individuals typically are required to operate the MRP.

OPT USA handles machine maintenance and provides data tracking through an app, allowing its customers to see where their processed plastics are going.

“The machine doesn’t get deployed and begin operating until there’s already that offtake agreement,” Vincent says.

Martin notes that while the MRP is a turnkey solution for a micro recycling presence, OPT USA does not set up collection programs in communities. “We would look to partner with other companies on that side of it. You handle the collection, and we handle the processing, but we want to get as close to the source as possible.”

Where to?

Vincent and Martin have installed one MRP in Chattanooga but have been in discussions to install more of the units at major retail locations, sports and concert venues and rural communities that lack plastic recycling programs. Vincent says he and Martin also have had talks with a major food and beverage company about using mobile MRPs at stadiums, music events and more.

“We have spoken to several [municipalities], especially around [Tennessee],” Vincent adds. “The interest is there. It’s figuring out how to fit in with those existing contracts [with haulers] that has been a bit of a challenge. So, it’s really going to those places where there isn’t already something set up.

Additionally, OPT USA has discussed setting up MRPs on farms to collect agricultural plastics, such as dripline tubing, throughout the Southeast U.S. and at marinas in the Great Lakes region to collect boat wrap.

“This is not designed to go in and disrupt a 20- or 100-tons-a-day New York City MRF, or even replace the MRFs here in [Tennessee],” Vincent explains. “This is specific targets of specific places. A retail chain, for example, could use these. It could be so all their plastic bags could be brought back and processed right there on-site with that value right there to digital wealth transfer.”

The author is associate editor of Recycling Today and can be reached at cvoloschuk@gie.net.