From the Chief:
John Bordynuik
Either stream is very easy to capture because all of the sites we have spoken to (yes, including Waste Management) pays $38 to $70/ton tip fee to get rid of their plastic. They all attempt to recycle PET plastic when the commodity price is high. There is money in collecting and recycling PET plastic.. that's it. If it contaminated then they get nothing or much less. All other plastic is sent to landfill (with the exception of HDPE sometimes). I want all the plastic they pay to dispose of. The industrial waste stream is low hanging fruit because companies are always looking to save money and by reducing their tip fees. Industrial sources do offer a better plastic because it doesn't smell so bad (might sound funny but we have much plastic with food waste we've tested and rotten milk in powdered form smells awful). We are running unwashed mixed plastic anyway and industrial waste results in slightly less residue because I don't have rotten baked food left in the reactor.
April 20 at 5:23pm
The problem is composite plastic and plastics that cannot be sorted by machine or a person. As well, plastics are mismarked at times. If HDPE and PP in the same plastic it cannot and is not recycled at this time. As well, from the recyclers I spoke to if a load is HDPE and it is contaminated with some PET they just landfill it. Many products use multiple plastics for various reasons: 1 plastic for lid, one for handle, another for the container, etc.. These plastics cannot be recycled. These problems further complicate the recycling process. Colours are another headache. Some facilities sort PET by colour. With all these problems it is not possible to sort them all 100% except for PET (bottles). HDPE is somewhat sorted by size and some other technology that that is not done to often. Plastic that is generally recycled is plastic left over from product runs when the plastic type and consistency is known. That appears to be most of it.
April 20 at 6:47pm
We can recycle the plastics that are currently not recycled. I have a lot of stats from Waste Management, some municipalities, and many recyclers in the US who we have discussed our P2O with. Are you asking me what the percentage of plastic is for type 4 through 7?
April 20 at 9:20pm
