October 16, 2009
PWP Industries’ new facility is a large scale investment in sustainability, offering food-grade packaging made from post-consumer recycled PETE.
Karen Langhauser, Editor-in-Chief
This past June, PWP (Packaging With Perfection) Industries opened the doors to a project that promised to help close the recycling loop. Being the first North American thermoforming company to open an in-house plastics recycling facility definitely had its perks, but these did not come without obstacles.
The result, however, is a facility that (based on an annual recycling capacity of 40 M lbs of recycled PETE flake) will eliminate 30,000 tons of CO2, reduce 148,000 cubic yards of landfill space and reduce 390 M kilowatt hours of energy.
And, most importantly, the ability to provide food processors with packaging options that are high-quality, safe and good for the environment.
The basics
PWP Industries, headquartered in Vernon, CA, supplies packaging to leading regional and national companies in the bakery, snack food, grocery store, produce, food service and confectionery industries. The company started construction on its 80,000 square foot Davisville, WV recycling facility in October, 2008 and opened its doors this past June. The recycling facility is just a few miles away from PWP’s packaging manufacturing facility in Mineral Wells, WV.
The process, when described, seems both simple and logical. Why make products out of virgin materials when we have landfills overflowing with discarded PET bottles? As recycling plant manager Phil Sanderson will tell you, paving the way is not always as easy as it sounds, but in the end, it’s absolutely worth it.
“PWP takes environmental stewardship seriously. Commissioning a flake to flake recycling plant was a natural step for us. Getting a new technology up and going literally from the ground up was no small challenge though. We broke ground in the fall of 2008, put the building up through the winter, and completed the installation by the end of spring. By June we were creating food grade post consumer resin. Every pound of PCR replaces a pound of material produced from non-renewable resources. By doing so we offer America’s consumers quality packaging alternatives to virgin packaging. We’re proud of what we’re doing, more than just producing packaging material, we’re doing something good for the environment at the same time,” says Sanderson.
The process
Post-consumer PETE (Polyethylene terephthalate) (from plastic bottles) arrives at the recycling plant as “post-consumer flake” — essentially, shredded plastic bottles. PWP is working with Coca-Cola Recycling LLC, who supplies the raw material. The plant takes in roughly 125,000 lbs of PETE each day, delivered in 1,800 lb-bulk bags. The bulk bags contain all parts of the shredded bottles, including labels, caps, glue, and unfortunately, anything else that got mixed into the process.
Through a series of highly automated steps, PWP cleans and decontaminates this flake, ending up with a crystallized, FDA-compliant material (SSP Flake) that is sent down the road to the Mineral Wells facility for processing into packaging.
Making the food-grade
A large portion of the plastic recycled in the U.S. is “down-cycled,” meaning it is recycled into a material of lesser quality, specifically, a lower-grade plastic. The U.S. plastics industry recognizes seven categories of plastic, with PETE being at the top of the chain. Any time plastic is recycled into any type of plastic lower on the list, it is considered down-cycled.
In order to be considered food-grade by the FDA, plastic must not contain any materials deemed harmful to humans. To ensure the safety of recycled content used food-contact applications, the FDA considers each proposed use of recycled plastic on a case-by-case basis.
PWP had to submit a complete description of the recycling process, including a description of the source of the recyclable plastic, to the FDA. PWP’s process was initially evaluated by a third party in order to certify that the process would yield a final product that is truly FDA-compliant. But just achieving FDA-compliance wasn’t enough for PWP.
“Obviously the FDA is not present in our plant making sure we continue to do things correctly. The burden of proof now falls on us, and we have a rigorous system in place to ensure that we are producing a safe, high-quality product,” says Sanderson.
The plant’s aggressive quality control program rivals those of food plants. Every load of incoming raw materials are sampled and tested in an on-site lab to determine moisture content, size, and contaminant content. Loads that don’t make spec are rejected. Every two hours, the washed flake and finished SSP flake are also sampled and tested.
PWP’s lab takes a 200 g sample from every lot it processes, and keeps these samples on-site for six months to one year to ensure total lot traceability.
New waters
The majority of the employees working at the new Davisville facility come from a manufacturing background, rather than a recycling one. And while this meant a learning curve for the company, it also gave them a unique perspective on their plant operations, with the result being a highly automated, sanitary, worker-friendly environment.
“We felt that our background in food packaging positioned us well in the creation of a post consumer flake plant. The cleanliness expectations of food packaging were carried over to the new technology. The net result is a state-of-the-art plant with a clean environment,” says Sanderson.
When it came to purchasing equipment for the recycling facility, PWP sent employees abroad to Italy for research and training, which ultimately resulted in the purchase of a plastic recycling system from a manufacturer in Como, Italy.
The plant is so highly automated that it appears to run itself, with very few employees needed on the plant floor. The building was constructed with large light panels across the top of 40’ walls, enabling natural light to flood the facility, cutting dependence on electricity for lighting and making the workplace more enjoyable for employees.
Sourcing challenges
In-house recycling means internal control by PWP of the base materials used for its packaging, which equates to a more consistent end product.
“One of our goals is to tighten up the variability of our raw materials, to improve the consistency and quality of our product,” notes Sanderson.
But PWP can’t do this alone. While the plastics recycling industry has made rapid progress, it is still very much in its infancy. Sanderson hopes that the future will bring a necessary overhaul in the recycling industry.
Plastic recycling is a combined effort from consumers and retailers, all residing in states with varying recycling mandates, the resulting post-consumer flake can be inconsistent. In addition, recyclers face a unique challenge when it comes to aluminum, which also enters the raw material stream due to the close proximity of aluminum cans and plastic bottles during the early recycling stages.
PWP has taken steps to address and combat this issue. Aluminum causes challenges because while melted plastic can easily move through screens during the purification process, aluminum cannot. If present, it plus the screens and disrupts the flow of plastic, resulting in the company having to shut down the line and change the screen — downtime that PWP avoids by taking measures to remove aluminum earlier in the process.
The recycling plant runs 24/7, however, PWP shuts down its wash line and services it every ten days, as a precautionary measure against the abuse the equipment takes during processing.
The end result
The best end result any company can ask for is satisfied customers — and this is exactly what a new in-house recycling facility has helped PWP maintain. Customers do not even seem to mind the slightly higher price point of recycled packaging — a sign that the food industry is ready and willing to invest in packaging that is better for the environment. In fact, PWP has increased their customer base now that the company is offering more recycled packaging options.
“Our world has changed out of necessity,” says Sanderson. “The use of recycled content is not only economical and in high demand from customers, at the end of the day, it’s just the right thing to do.”
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