A Word About Recycling with Ollie Maier
Here’s what I thought were a couple of interesting items from a recent Resource Recycling newsletter. Both concern China’s ban, started a year or so ago, on some recycled imports, primarily plastics.
“A year after an online scrap plastics trading marketplace launched, an executive at the startup offered insight into where material is moving in the aftermath of China’s ban.
“Scrapo, a Sunnyvale, California, technology company, came online in November 2017, pledging to help reduce disposal of plastics by bridging the gap between buyers and sellers. Today, 10,400 buyers and sellers have used the software platform, three-quarters from outside the U.S. They have listed a total of 2 billion pounds of plastic for sale.”
I find the buyers live in 140 countries with India having the most buyers of U.S. scrap plastic with almost 3,000. The U.S. is next with about 2,500. A distant third is Turkey with roughly 450. They go downhill from there to less than 100.
Although this company is not the first online marketplace for such recyclables trading, its software platform’s, face-to-face and live chats allowed it to become one of the preferred.
Using the website, sellers post listings and find and share information with potential buyers through the desktop or mobile app.
The company wanted something which was quick and easy to use plus where one could determine quickly whether it was a good deal.
The company does not charge for listings or sales; instead, it earns revenue through an optional, enhanced service. Its listings cover loose or baled material, flakes and pellets. The size of the average listing size is for a truckload or more of material.
Since it started up, 65 percent of plastic listed has been post-industrial material and 35 percent post-consumer plastic. About 30 percent is PET – think soft drink bottles – and 11 percent is HDPE – think milk/ water jugs.
I am pleased to know this company, along with others, is helping the buyers and sellers of recycled plastic since the China ban.
Although the ban by China has not helped the plastics recycling effort, they are helping in other areas. For example, a major Chinese paper company will add recycled pulp production lines at two U.S. virgin fiber mills it purchased earlier this year, and both will consume mixed paper and OCC (Old Corrugated Cardboard).”
The company, Nine Dragons Paper, is a U.S. subsidiary of a large Chinese paper company. It will be investing $300 million in the recently acquired paper mills in Biron, Wisconsin and Rumford, Maine. The planned three new recycled pulp production lines are expected to produce 3,100 metric tons per day.
Additionally, they will also change one of the paper machines at the Biron mill to produce corrugating medium and linerboard for container board manufacturing. It is expected to produce about 700 metric tons per day.
Materials for these new plants is expected to come from the Chicago, Milwaukee and Minneapolis areas for the one while the other should get material from the Boston, Montreal, Portland, and Maine areas.
As mentioned, the Nine Dragons Paper Company is not a small one. In fact, in their Asian operations, they already have the capacity to process over 14 million tons per year across nine paper mills. But I am glad they are helping to process some of the recycled paper and cardboard here instead of us shipping it out to them and then importing/buying the paper and cardboard re-manufactured by them from them.
Till next week, do have a Happy and Safe Halloween…
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Ollie is a local citizen concerned with the environment and helping others. A retired Air Force fighter and instructor pilot, he is a graduate of Leadership San Marcos and received his degrees at Texas State University where he worked on staff before totally retiring. For questions or comments, he invites you to call him at 512-353-7432 or e-mail omaier@txstate.edu.
