Myplas opens flexible film recycling plant

Myplas USA, the U.S.-subsidiary of South African firm Myplas, has opened a facility in Rogers, Minnesota, designed to recycle flexible film, a widely used material that includes pallet wrap, shrink wrap, single-use shopping bags and some food packaging. The 170,000-square-foot facility is the company’s first in the United States. 

At full capacity, the facility will recycle nearly 90 million pounds of end-of-life plastic per year and is expected to employ nearly 200 people. According to Myplas, the mechanical recycling and pelletizing plant marks a major milestone in a collaborative effort among leading global businesses to catalyze a regional circular economy in the Upper Midwest for flexible film and packaging materials.  

“This is a very exciting day for Myplas as we open our U.S. headquarters and our first U.S. recycling facility in Minnesota,” says Andrew Pieterse, CEO of Myplas USA. “It’s been a remarkable journey to help bring this vision to life, and we are proud to bring our expertise to this groundbreaking initiative.”

The initiative was led by Greater MSP Partnership’s MBOLD, a coalition of Minnesota-based food and agriculture business leaders and innovators, to collaborate across the value chain to drive innovation, cut waste and reduce the use of virgin plastic. 

RELATED: Report finds ‘untapped potential’ in curbside film collection 

The new facility was funded by a joint $13 million equity investment by lead investors General Mills, Schwan’s Co. and Midwest-based film manufacturer Charter Next Generation, with supporting investors Target and Ecolab. Additional financial support for developing the facility was provided by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW), Closed Loop Partners and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. 

“The management of film and flexible plastic waste presents one of the most substantial opportunities for resource and value recovery in the plastic value chain,” says Nicholas Kolesch, vice president of projects at AEPW. “With Myplas at the center of the MBOLD partnership, we see the demonstration of effective cross-sector collaboration, from the collection of commercial and retail film waste to processing at converters and, ultimately, a pathway for brands to integrate Myplas recycled plastics in their products.”  

According to MBOLD, the U.S. economy uses 12 to 15 billion pounds of flexible packaging and films every year for products ranging from pallet wrap to e-commerce mailers, boat wrap, food packaging, shrink wrap, lawn and garden bags and hay bale wrap. Only an estimated 5 percent of flexible films used in the U.S. is recycled each year, the coalition says, with the rest being landfilled, incinerated or released into the environment.  

Myplas USA recycles and pelletizes low- and high-density polyethylene and produces food-grade and nonfood-grade resin.