Recycling efforts add up to Zero (Waste Zone) at NPE 2015

ORLANDO, FLA. — As part of its continuing push to promote the collection and use of recycled plastics, the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. is provided an unprecedented amount of educational space to the topic at NPE 2015.

The Zero Waste Zone featured recycled plastics from head to toe as SPI recruited a variety of companies to show off the viability of recyclables at the event in Orlando last month.

That includes recycled-based flooring donated by EcoStrate and Interface as well as a variety of products — electronics, personal care items, building and construction products and toys, for example — that all feature recycled content.

Utsav Sanghvi is an international trade consultant for Strategic Trade Alliance in Kendall Park, N.J., and was hanging out in the Zero Waste Zone during NPE March 23-27. Sanghvi buys plastic scrap in India for export to the U.S.

“I'm absolutely a fan of the zero waste. It helps my business, it helps the environment. I believe it helps everyone's bottom line,” he said while enjoying a cold one from the beer garden in the zone. “I definitely appreciate the initiative and promotion of the zero waste.”

Not far from where Sanghvi stood there were several displays promoting various aspects of recycling and zero waste. And beyond that was a grinder set up to reclaim plastic jars made at the show.

“Each of those products has a story, talks about how much recycled content it has, what the feed stream is,” said Kim Holmes, senior director of recycling and sustainability at SPI.

“I think one of the important things to educate the prime industry about is that recycled plastics are not necessarily an inferior material,” Holmes said.

“I think there's this perception of it being not as good as prime [virgin] quality,” she said. “Certainly it's got its challenges, but certainly it can go for innovative and high-end applications. And that's what we wanted to demonstrate.”

Nate Saint, chief operating officer at Iron Mountains LLC of Morgantown, Pa., was checking out some toys made from 100-percent recycled plastic, largely high density polethyene, by Green Toys Inc.

“I think it makes a lot of sense,” he said about the zero waste concept. “It doesn't make a lot of sense for every segment of the industry, but it seems like a good idea to me.”

The idea of trying to expose attendees from recycling through end use at the Zero Waste Zone is designed to give people a broad picture of what recycled plastics are all about.

“People are really going to get a sense of the recycling process and then the potential for recycled plastics,” Holmes said.

Some of the fashions displayed from a recycled fashion show during NPE's opening ceremony also are on display in the Zero Waste Zone. “I think it definitely sets the stage for people who do want to come back to the Zero Waste Zone and learn more about the recycled materials and processes,” she said.

Those fashions include jewelry created by one of the students at the Savannah College of Art and Design who contributed to the fashion show. That's where Clara Battle, a product designer for 3-D printing materials company Prinnel in Barcelona, Spain, was found looking at the repurposed plastics.

“I think it's very interesting and it has a lot of potential,” she said about the use of recycled materials to create new products.

Creating the Zero Waste Zone and devoting so much time and energy to that portion of the show is all by design as SPI looks to promote plastics recycling.

Holmes has said that this show is the first time that the prime, or virgin materials, plastic industry has placed such a focus on recycling at a major show such as this.

There have been conferences devoted to just plastics recycling for years and years, but they are smaller affairs attracting smaller crowds. The Plastics Recycling 2015 conference held recently in Dallas, for example, had about 1,600 attendees. NPE 2015 is bringing together more than 60,000 folks.

Embracing the use of recycled plastics, Holmes said, is a smart business decision for the industry.

“I think that's the direction that NGOs certainly want to see. They want to see a change in the industrial ecology of plastics. Everyone talks about the circular economy. Well, I think we're actually laying the groundwork to begin to make that happen, which is really exciting,” she said.