Company’s chief operating officer Tom Emmerich offers his insight in recent radio interview.

Tom Emmerich, the chief operating officer of Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Schupan and president of its Schupan Recycling business unit, says policymakers in his home state have room to make changes that can increase the Wolverine State’s recycling volume and rate.

In the interview with Russ White of East Lansing, Michigan-based National Public Radio affiliate WKAR, Schupan was asked several questions about the health of recycling in Michigan.

Emmerich tells the radio station Schupan has its roots in industrial scrap metal recycling and now has five business units, with Schupan Recycling focusing on beverage container recycling in a state that has a deposit-return system, or bottle bill. Emmerich describes that business unit by saying, “We handle a large percentage of all the containers in the state of Michigan.”

When asked about municipal or curbside recycling in Michigan, Emmerich comments, “Do we lag other states? We absolutely do. We have like an 18 percent municipal and recycling rate. That’s up a couple percentage points, but it still lags behind the Minnesotas and Wisconsins and a couple other Midwestern states.”

In terms of beverage container recycling, he adds, “We have relied on the deposit law as our marquee recycling program in Michigan, and it’s been incredibly successful. There’s no reason to look at changing that.”

Recycling in Michigan overall, however, could benefit from a funding boost or policy changes, says Emmerich. “It really comes down to funding,” he said of boosting the 18 percent recycling rate. “How much money is the state willing to put back? And mandates. Michigan has really no mandates on banning certain things from landfills. Other states do. The states that do have much higher recycling rates.”

On the policy front, Emmerich comments, “I testified for two different bills, House Bill 4443 and House Bill 4444. Those bills were pretty much introduced by the beverage community where they are looking for a half-cent per container income tax credit that would help them invest back into the deposit system. Distributors are responsible for the program. A lot of people don’t understand that. Since day one, they initiate the deposit. They’re required to pick the containers up at retail and properly recycle them.”

Noting that Schupan Recycling is “hired” to “help them with that process,” Emmerich adds, “As costs have gone up over the years and money was taken away from distributors back in the early to mid-90s. They haven’t asked for a penny from the state to help them with infrastructure costs. Our costs are up well over 25 percent in the last five or six years.”

In the case of Schupan, Emmerich says the company needs to make “a significant investment in our Wixom [Michigan] operation that we built 16 years ago. If we don’t, then the cost of maintenance is just going to go up and our ability to service retailers and the consumer is going to go down, and nobody’s going to be happy with that.”

A transcript of the interview between White and Emmerich can be found on this web page.

New Jersey-based recycling firm honored by U.S. Department of Commerce for export volumes in 2021.

Princeton, New Jersey-based MGK international Inc. and its Non-Ferrous Business Development Manager Dipan Patel have been recognized by the United States Chamber of Commerce with an E-Award for export activities.

“The President’s E-Award for exports [was given] in recognition of the company’s achievement in making significant contributions to an increase in U.S. exports,” says Patel. He calls it “the highest honor given to U.S. exporters.”

The award was presented to Patel by U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimando at a ceremony in July. “This honor is a testament to your hard work exporting your products and services to the global market, and your remarkable resilience during the pandemic,” Raimando said in remarks to the six companies honored.

Continued Raimondo, “Today’s E Awards winners contributed to nearly $1.5 billion of exports in goods and services from 2018 through 2021.”

One of the other five winners was Florida-based Montachem International, a plastic and polymers distributor that, among its other business units, “has a program in Haiti to clean up plastics from streets and beaches and recycle them into desks for students,” said Raimondo.

Regarding MKG, she added, “Another E-Award winner that knows a thing or two about recycling is MGK International, which exports scrap metals and polymers.”

On its website, MKG describes itself as part of the Mumbai-based Mehta Trading Co. Group (MTC). Its MGK International business unit was established in July 2007. “During the short span of time, the company has made rapid strides,” says the company. “From a humble beginning we have already achieved a volume of 30,000 tons a month of metal scrap exports to India and the Far East, primarily from the East Coast of the U.S.”

Canadian scrap firm adds locations once operated by Milman Industries.

Brampton, Ontario, Canada-based Triple M Metal LP has announced the acquisition of BM Metal Services Inc., and North Bay Salvage from Sudbury, Ontario-based Milman Industries Inc.

The acquisition includes three recycling facilities in the Sudbury area and another in North Bay, Ontario.

“We are extremely proud to welcome the scrap division of BM Metals and North Bay Salvage into the Triple M Metal family,” says Steve Leddy, president of Triple M. “Adding these reputable and well-established businesses into the Triple M portfolio reflects our organization’s commitment to offer to our customers and suppliers best-in-class services.”

Triple M Metal, part of the Giampaolo Group, has been growing in scale for the past several decades. It now has 35 facilities in Canada and the United States and operates shredders, stationary and mobile shears, ferrous and nonferrous balers, a copper and aluminum insulated granulation system, and what it calls a state-of-the-art downstream (mixed shredded metals) separator. Its processing capacity allows it handle more than r million tons of metallic scrap annually, says the firm.

The three winning projects will be awarded 250,000 pounds each in March 2023.

Afri-Plastics Challenge, Johannesburg, South Africa, has named 15 teams of inventors across Sub-Saharan Africa as finalists for the Promoting Change. The teams have been selected for their effots to develop solutions that could change the behavior of individuals and communities around plastic scrap in Sub-Saharan Africa.   

The Afri-Plastics Challenge aims to support efforts to reduce plastic pollution in a way that empowers all. This is done by promoting greater gender inclusiveness and social justice in national policies on plastic scrap.    

Afri-Plastics says the finalists, located in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda will receive a 50,000-pound (approximately $59,000) grant toward developing their solutions.   

Tackling plastic pollution through three prize strands, the finalists in the third strand, Promoting Change, will develop engagement strategies such as gamification, incentives and storytelling to promote behavior change and educate communities. The finalists also provide insights into the roles women play across the value chain.  

The finalists will be supported through a capacity-building portfolio of subject matter experts over the next several months to further develop their solutions.   

“The issue of marine plastic pollution has grown rapidly in recent years,” says Constance Agyeman, director of international development for Challenge Works. “It is crucial that awareness translates into action and long-term behavior change, at individual and collective levels alike.” 

Agyeman says the 15 finalists will be supported over the course of the next seven months to develop their communications campaigns and projects. The 50,000-pound grants will support teams to generate evidence of change around reducing littering, segregation of plastic scrap, choosing reusable options or refusing single-use plastic altogether.  

Having made their way through the semifinal round, each finalist has received grants of 5,000 pounds to develop their ideas. Three winning projects will be awarded 250,000 pounds (roughly $297,000) each in March 2023.   

Projects that made it to the finals include “Change at the till,” a solution developed by Botswana’s Meeticks Africa. The initiative runs a 30-day challenge that aims to get users to understand how their use of single-use plastics, especially when shopping, negatively affects the environment and contributes heavily to marine plastic scrap. It also helps them practice what they learn. It is a multiday gamified experience conducted over an intelligent WhatsApp chatbot and backend app.   

Another finalist is a Training-Empowerment-Promotion (TEP) model developed by Catharina Natang, a Cameroonian organization. The TEP model aims to provide training on sustainable fashion and resource mobilization to fashion designers. It also seeks to help local designers to understand the subtle but massive presence of plastic-based fabrics in the fashion industry and how this contributes to the global plastic scrap problem.   

Students will learn about nonplastic alternatives, how to access them, how to recycle, properly dispose of and select nonplastic alternatives. The project will organize annual sustainable fashion events to widen public awareness of sustainable fashion to reduce plastic ending up in oceans.   

Also in the running is Kenya’s Homeless of Kisumu’s M-taka solution, which aims to train and empower women economically to become recycling agents who build communities of recyclers. The program leverages technology and induces behavioral change through social connections and incentives. Through an app, the masses will be targeted to increase recycling culture and link them with agents in their areas to collect the plastic and transport it to recyclers.   

“Plastic pollution is threatening our ecosystems and food systems,” says Harjit Sajjan, minister of international development of Canada. “I strongly believe that we must empower communities across the world to make sustainable choices. Choices that result in a better, more environmentally friendly future for all. I look forward to seeing the hard work and innovation of these amazing finalists and can't wait to contribute our expertise and efforts in supporting Africa in becoming a plastic scrap-free continent.” 

The products can purify most plastics pyrolysis oils, the company says.

Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF has launched PuriCycle, a new line of products for the purification of most complex scrap plastics pyrolysis oils. The PuriCycle portfolio includes novel catalysts and adsorbents developed to selectively remove or convert a wide range of impurities in pyrolysis oils and enable downstream processing of circular plastics streams, BASF says. PuriCycle can help customers meet industry compositional compliance standards, benefit from high-efficiency purification and upgrading solutions and increase flexibility in the chemical recycling process. 

PuriCycle purifies pyrolysis oils, a secondary raw material obtained from the chemical recycling of plastic scrap that is fed into the production process for new plastics at the beginning of the value chain. Purification of pyrolysis oils obtained from end-of-life plastics is among the most demanding technical tasks in chemical plastics recycling, BASF says. Impurities, such as halogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur compounds as well as higher levels of reactive components, such as dienes, complicate downstream use and impose strict limitations on further processing such streams in the production of new materials. 

“With our PuriCycle portfolio, we are in a very strong position to make a difference in chemical plastics recycling and to enable plastics circularity,” says Detlef Ruff, senior vice president, process catalysts, at BASF. “The ability of the PuriCycle products to purify the most challenging pyrolysis oil streams is a major contribution to help closing the plastics loop, minimizing waste and ultimately opening up new feedstocks for the chemical industry.”