Making the case for polycoated paper recovery

“We want to make sure we have a consistent message,” he said. “All these packages have some level of polycoating on them for a variety of reasons—to keep moisture out, keep barrier properties and things of that nature. But for that reason, there’s not a real clear design guide. So, if you’re Kraft Heinz, if you’re General Mills and you’re designing a new package, what should you be designing towards? I think that’s a gap we saw that we’re going to be addressing moving forward.”

Consistent messaging

To ensure consistency, RRS, which manages the PCPA, conducted several forms of testing, including RFID testing, or radio frequency identification testing, bale audits and end market surveys.

For the RFID tests, RRS tagged about 26 different types of packaging formats and tracked where they ended up in a MRF. The results showed that flat boxes are most likely to be sorted properly to the fiber screens on an initial pass, while the lowest overall recovery rates and lowest optical efficiency were for push-up tubes because of their size and cylindrical shape.

Bale audits were conducted at Michigan State University’s recycling center in East Lansing, Michigan. RRS examined mixed paper bales from six MRFs, taking samples from three MRFs that promote acceptance of polycoated paper in their programs and three MRFs that don’t allow polycoated paper. The MRFs were located in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Ohio.

The findings indicated that, while there was some variation of volume across the MRFs, there didn’t appear to be a notable difference between those that accept polycoated paper and those that don’t.

“That could be due to the messaging [and] communities that are wishcycling versus having proper recycling guidelines,” Coleman said.

Finally, RRS surveyed various paper mills and concluded that end markets exist for polycoated paper recycling based on feedback, including some responses that indicated a business case for upgrading a mill to accept this material.

A closer look at paper cups

According to Todd and the FPI, paper cup recycling is a main priority as far as polycoated paper recycling is concerned.

“The paper cup is really the thing we’re trying to push into the marketplace, gain access and increase recovery,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of studies over the years and there’s opportunity for recovery.”

MRFs typically sort polycoated paper either into polycoat bales or, more commonly, mixed paper bales.

“If you’re a big city and you’ve got a lot of material coming through your MRF and you can make that value, you’ll do that,” Todd said of designated polycoated paper bales. “But a lot of MRFs typically [sort into mixed paper.]”

To answer a question he often receives—“Why paper cups?”—Todd said it has to do with the market.

“There’s a lot of domestic mills looking for more fiber,” he said. “If they had the choice, they would love to just take cardboard all day long and consume as much cardboard as they can, but there’s only so much of that out there. There’s not as much office paper as there used to be that was readily available. … So, what are those other sources of fiber that can be used? That’s where paper cups come into play.”

He noted, however, that there are processes and technology that need to be in place for mills to be able to consume polycoated paper, like paper cups, particularly front-end pulping and de-trashing equipment.

A lot of times, he said, it’s a moisture problem, not a content problem.

“How do we get this stuff dry enough, down to 10 percent moisture or something [similar] where you can actually recycle it?” Todd asked.

“We try to partner with communities across the country that have access to MRFs that can sort and segregate and recover paper cups and get them to the mills. This is the footprint of folks we’ve partnered with over the years,” Todd said, noting that FPI recently wrapped up its first partnership in California and will be doing more work there as its EPR legislation goes into effect.

FPI also currently is working with communities in Michigan and South Carolina and is focusing much of its work on what Todd called “the resident messaging piece,” as well as working with paper brokers that export a lot of material and exploring the options for paper cup recycling in those markets.

The challenge, Pratt said, is helping people understand the benefits.

“There’s the cost of all this,” he said. “These sorts of alliances are not necessarily built into the cost [of doing business.] … To go to your president of a division and say, ‘Hey, I need $200,000 for this project and it’s going to benefit us in these ways,’ I think the ways you describe that, the ways you sell it internally, certainly have to be different.”

“Everybody in the supply chain is part of this effort, and the effort is to increase recovery of the materials they put out into the marketplace,” Todd added.

“For us, it’s like a balancing act because there are lots of different formats, but high level, it’s about the industry. It’s about the capabilities of each individual MRF. As you all are developing your programs, how can we help to make these changes or help you with decision-making? … It’s a big puzzle. … It takes a lot of effort to get everybody moving in the same direction.”

The need for more fiber

With sorted office paper generation continuing to decline, in particular, mills have had to consider alternative fiber sources.

However, the question continues to be asked: Are there enough paper cups and polycoated packaging to fill that gap?

“One of the issues in the past has been volume,” Todd said. “It’s like, ‘Is there really enough of it to focus on it?’ That’s why [we want to] get the Carton Council together with FPI, with all these other brands and all these other formats and let’s create this polycoated commodity that can be out there and be tradeable and at scale.

“There’s a need for more fiber in the marketplace. … So, trying to find those sources of fiber … there’s an opportunity to make sure we have recovery as part of that plan. As you’re designing new packaging, let’s make sure recovery is part of that.”

Pratt also emphasized the business case for diversifying feedstock.

“The more options people have to diversify their incoming material of what they can purchase, I think that only helps their business case for staying competitive and staying relevant,” he said.