Page 38 - Plastics News Issue - January 2025
P. 38
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
“We’re serving waste and recycling companies considering what equipment will be needed in
that want to get their hands on more tons and the future to handle changing material streams.
grow their business,” said Jed McDonald, direc-
tor of corporate development at robotics com- “Secondary sorting is a front end for a chemi-
pany AMP, which sells recycling technology. The cal recycler,” she said, adding that chemical re-
company also announced in November it was cycling facilities are trying to extract maximum
partnering with hauler Waste Connections to value from streams that have already had most
build a MRF in Colorado, AMP’s first ground-up of the value taken out. In addition, the massive
investment. volumes required for chemical recycling aren’t
going to come from what the MRF produces,
In addition to the development of end markets, she said, and price points are different than for
the practicalities of primary sorting help ensure mechanical recycling operations. “You’re not
that secondary sorting doesn’t become extinct, competing in that same space for materials.”
said Tom Ferretti, senior vice president of op-
erations at Balcones Recycling. “I don’t think the The growing number of chemical recycling com-
economics are going to work” for designing a panies struggle with uncertainty over their feed-
system that eliminates the usefulness of a sec- stock supply, Lovewell said. “They have their
ondary sort, he said. However, not every waste feedstock that they were able to source this
handler can afford a system costing $10 million week, but next week it will be from somewhere
to $30 million. else, and it’s very difficult to predict.”
“So you get very good at what you do with what They require infrastructure to process feedstock
you have.” streams from anywhere, he said, from MRF re-
siduals to carpet backing. And although “there’s
Chemical recycling requires specialized feed- a little bit of a doom-and-gloom conversation
stock going on” surrounding the future of secondary
recycling, developing end markets – including
Although public perception may be that chemi- chemical recycling – will drive secondary sorting.
cal recycling operations are burning trash, Mylin-
da Jacobsen, senior vice president of plastics McDonald concurred, saying that helping chemi-
at chemical recycling firm Encina Development cal recycling operators achieve the desired
Group, pointed out that they have feedstock feedstock specifications has “unlocked down-
specifications like any plant and are buying a cu- stream of us a new offtake that adds to the sell-
rated blend from secondary sorters rather than able things we can precisely sort.”
from MRFs. Encina is a chemical recycling busi-
ness based near Houston. AMP also views secondary sorting from a tolling
perspective, in particular for chemical recycling,
“It’s not a landfill,” she said. “It’s a specialized which needs a certain feedstock that’s easier
beast that can take some streams and may- and cheaper with technology like AMP’s, Mc-
be upgrade them a little bit, but you can’t just Donald said. Tolling typically entails outsourcing
put anything in there. You have to understand an aspect of a company’s manufacturing pro-
what’s coming in and look even like what’s go- cess to a third party that can perform it more ef-
ing to change in two years, five years, 10 years,” ficiently or economically than the manufacturer
38 PLASTICS NEWS January 2025
