European effort uses solvent-based technology to create new polymers from mixed plastic scrap.

The Barcelona-based effort known as the MultiCycle project recently hosted an event to demonstrate technology it says culminated from 42 months of international collaboration “to demonstrate the Circular Economy for plastics in action.”

The April 7 event in Ghent, Belgium, displayed what the group calls “an industrial recycling pilot plant for thermoplastic-based multimaterials” that provides “selective recovery of pure single plastic recyclates and fibers from mixed wastes.”

Finished products resulting from the MultiCycle process can be used in “high-end applications in two important industrial segments – flexible multilayer films for packaging products and fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites in the automotive sector,” according to MultiCyle.

Its CreaSolv process “purifies polymers by physical means via selective dissolution, with advanced digitalization methods for feedstock identification, process monitoring and control,” states MultiCycle. One demonstration-level application involved the use in a blown film process of polyethylene (PE) recycled polymers “sourced from commingled, printed flexibles from household municipal waste without special pre-sorting,” adds the group.

A second project entailed the “successful substitution of polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA) recyclate-based formulations into sheet laminate and hybrid composite injection molding processes for a reinforced car battery carrier,” says MultiCycle.

“Building upon the operational experience gained, the project’s sustainability and techno-economic analyses have provided the basis for recommendations towards future upscaling, and the project has also produced policy recommendations promoting waste management and resource efficiency improvements for the target packaging and automotive applications,” concludes MultiCycle.       

Presentations from MultiCycle’s event and case studies are available to download from the MutliCycle website.

Recycling association chapter also reports success of prior scholarship winner.

The Northern Ohio Chapter of the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) is hosting a river cruise event in early June. The chapter also has reported on the follow-up success of one of its earlier college scholarship winners.

On Thursday, June 9, the ISRI chapter is inviting its members and others interested in networking to join it for a cruise on the Goodtime III vessel on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland.

ISRI Northern Ohio describes the three-hour evening cruise as a “fantastic networking event [on] Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River with ever-changing views of downtown Cleveland” and the nearby Flats district. Those interested in registering can do so on this web page.

The ISRI chapter also has sent out an e-mail message letting its members know that an ISRI Northern Ohio scholarship winner from 2019 has been recently admitted as a radiologist resident doctor in the Columbia University/New York Presbyterian hospital program.

Dylan Tan is the son of Ruby and Alfred Tan, and Alfred works for Toledo Shredding LLC/ ProTrade Steel Co. of Toledo, Ohio. Dylan is now on track to become a radiologist working at a Columbia University-affiliated campus in Manhattan.

After obtaining an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, Dylan Tan went to Hofstra University’s Zucker School of Medicine in Hempstead, New York.

New Jersey-based paper recycling firm raises nearly $40,000 for March of Dimes.

Pine Brook, New Jersey-based Wilmington Paper Corp. (WPC) says it ranked as the leading fundraiser in New Jersey among companies, schools and teams after the 2022 March of Dimes “March for Babies Walk” event. That fundraiser took place Sunday, April 24, at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey.

Wilmington Paper has raised more than $38,000 this year, which it says is the fourth year of its sponsorship of the March for Babies event. WPC President Brett Lurie and the company’s head of data analytics and Information Josh Lurie served as team captains for the fundraising effort.

According to WPC, the two Lurie family members also are “among the top individual fundraisers in New Jersey, along with Senior Director of Trading and Export Marketing Philip Bellafiore and Director of Digital Media, Marketing and Public Relations David Tratner.”

Overall, the state of New Jersey March for Babies event has raised over $454,000, says WPC.

For the Lurie family, whose third-generation family business was founded in 1977, the March of Dimes cause is personal, says the company.

“Becoming a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) family was never in our plans,” says Josh Lurie, whose wife Erin welcomed twins Ruby and Cora born just 32 weeks into their term in December 2019. The twins spent four weeks in the NICU.

“My involvement with March of Dimes and having the opportunity to tour NICU facilities to see firsthand the incredible work these doctors and nurses perform day in and day out, I knew that our babies were in the best possible place they could be,” comments Josh.

Ruby and Cora, now two, were out walking with the Wilmington Paper team that came out to the Meadowlands in late April.

“Our story is not unique, and with the incredibly high rate of premature births in America, families like ours need all the help they can get to make sure all moms and babies are healthy,” adds Josh.

Containerboard output in the U.S. rose 2 percent over year-ago levels, says AF&PA, and boxboard mills are busier.

The Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) says output of containerboard in the United States rose by 2 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the first three months of 2021.

The boxboard mill operating rate was 94 percent in the first quarter of this year, which AF&PA says is up 2 points from the 92 percent capacity rate in the first quarter of 2021. Recycled-content boxboard output in this year’s first quarter increased by 3 percent compared with the first quarter of last year, says the association.

In the containerboard sector, mills operated at a 94.3 percent rate, which AF&PA calls “essentially flat (+0.4 pts.)” compared with the first quarter of 2021.

The production of containerboard for export early this year increased by 9 percent compared with the first three months of last year, the group adds.

Mill inventories of containerboard at the end of March decreased 102,000 short tons compared with the end of the 2021 calendar year but were up 63,000 short tons compared with March 31, 2021.

In March of this year, even printing and writing (P&W) papers enjoyed a demand boost, with the AFA&PA reporting a 1 percent year-on-year increase in shipments for the month compared with March 2021. “U.S. purchases of total printing-writing papers increased 3 percent in March [2022] compared to the same month last year,” states AF&PA.

The Arizona-based consulting firm has been selected by the city of Walla Walla to evaluate its glass recycling program and provide contract assistance.

WIH Resource Group (WRG), a Scottsdale, Arizona-based environmental consulting firm, has been awarded a contract for professional and technical consulting services with the city of Walla Walla, Washington, to assist the city in evaluating its glass recycling program and providing contract assistance.

Working closely with city management and staff, WRG's project work will provide guidance to the city of Walla Walla in assessing alternatives, and performing an analysis of the possible alternatives, for mixed glass recycling.

The project also includes a review of recycling contracts, advising in the recycling contract negotiations, developing a cost range and reviewing greenhouse gas emissions impacts. These factors will help implement a residential curbside collection mixed glass recycling program for the residents of Walla Walla.

“We are proud and pleased to be selected by the city of Walla Walla to conduct this important project work for them,” says Bob Wallace, president of WRG. "The city of Walla Walla has been an outstanding customer to WIH Resource Group over the past decade on several other project engagements and we are very honored to have been selected by them for this important project. We are very excited to have them as a repeat client again.”

In a 2021 survey, only 44 percent of Walla Walla residents believed there were adequate recycling services. Glass recycling, in particular, has been repeatedly brought up by residents in similar surveys in recent years.

“The primary objective with the study, at least the analysis of the glass alternatives, is [to find] ... the most viable alternative for the city of Walla Walla and our residents,” Public Works Director Ki Bealey told council members in an April city council meeting.

The city of Walla Walla once separately collected its residents’ glass, though the program was ended in 2012 due to high costs and the inadequacy of the recycling program as it existed.