In this week's issue, our special report covers 192 North American suppliers of recycled resins, including both reprocessed and brokered materials. We rank them by their 2023 reprocessed volume, so readers know their relative size and what materials they handle. We send out surveys and publish the results each year.
I should note, many plastic processors use recycled content and are just now releasing their 2023 sustainability reports detailing their material usage. Some purchase recycled resins ready to use, while others have the ability to make it ready for internal use.
For processors with in-house recycling capacity, any material they don't use can be sold off. For the product makers on our list, we mean to capture that unused volume sold to outside customers.
In this report, we have captured 13.8 billion pounds of material. That number is familiar, matching last year's published aggregate, but we come by it honestly. Some recyclers fell off the list — for example, our No. 8 from last year, Revolution Sustainable Materials LLC, whose resins are now totally consumed in-house. Others were added; we have added nine new recyclers that handle a combined 280 million pounds of material.
These changes contributed to the year-over-year offset in the report. The top 25 represents 61.5 percent of the total volume. Just the top 10 alone is 37 percent, with more than 5 billion pounds of material included.
Taking a closer look at the figures for this year's class, total volume was down 2.1 percent. The mix is different, too, with reprocessed volume gains up 3 percent, weighing in at 10.9 billion pounds, compared with 10.5 billion for 2022. Brokered volumes were 20 percent at 2.8 billion pounds.
Post-industrial volume was 8 billion pounds, and post-consumer resins still make up under half of our report with 5.8 billion pounds.
The takeaway here is that more plastic is being reworked before being sold off vs. previous years.
High density polyethylene, polypropylene and PET remain the top resins recycled.
Recycling plastic is big news no matter its immediate destination. Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. became a signatory to the UN Global Compact in August 2023.
Our listing for Waste Management Recycle America LLC now includes Natura PCR.
Berry Global Group Inc. was able to reach two key greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets ahead of schedule. Revolution Sustainable Solutions LLC now owns PolyAg Recycling Ltd. Commercial Plastics Recycling Inc. set a target of recycling 100 percent of the plastics at NPE2024 in May.
You can follow all our recycling coverage online at www.plasticsnews.com/topic/recycling.
Welcome to the list: Circularix LLC of Line Lexington, Pa.; Go Green Industries Inc. of Jurupa Valley, Calif.; Greystone Logistics Inc. of Bettendorf, Iowa; K&B Plastic Industries Inc. of Blodgett Mills, N.Y.; Michael Day Enterprises LLC of Wadsworth, Ohio; MRC Polymers Inc. of Romeoville, Ill.; Plastic Recycling Inc. of Indianapolis; PlastiCycle Corp. of Nashville, Tenn.; and Trademark Plastics Corp. of Short Hills, N.J.
Be sure to take a look at Sustainable Plastics' chart tracking the chemical recycling innovations and investments announced within the plastics industry.
Missing from the ranking? Contact Hollee Keller at [email protected]m.
Find all our rankings and lists online at www.plasticsnews.com/businessdata.
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Hollee Keller is the editorial research coordinator for Plastics News and author of the All Things Data blog. Follow her on LinkedIn.