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GreenWaste of Palo Alto, LLC
Initial Review of Certificate of
End Use & Traceability Data,
2024
February 1, 2025
Contact:
Eric Cissna, General Manager
[email protected]
650-798-5994
2765 Lafayette St.
Santa Clara, CA 95050
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... 2 Background & Expectations ....................................................................................................... 3 Barriers and Challenges ............................................................................................................ 4 Domestic Markets ...................................................................................................................... 5 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 7 CellMark Inc. (Novato, CA) ................................................................................................... 12 Berg Mill Supply/Classic Fibres (Los Angeles, CA) .............................................................. 16 Fibre Trade Inc. (Burlingame, CA) ........................................................................................ 17 Newport CH International (Orange, CA) ............................................................................... 18 Direct Pack Recycling (Azusa, CA) ...................................................................................... 19 Envision Plastics (Chino, CA) ............................................................................................... 21
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Background & Expectations
GreenWaste of Palo Alto, LLC and GreenWaste Recovery, LLC GreenWaste of Palo Alto, LLC (GWPA) is the City of Palo Alto’s (City) contracted solid waste, recyclable materials, and compostable materials collection and processing contractor. The agreement between GWPA and the City (GWPA Agreement) commenced in October 2008, was amended and restated in June 2015, and again amended and restated in January 2019, with the term extended through June 30, 2026.
Under the GWPA Agreement, GWPA collects recyclable materials, compostable materials, and solid waste from City residents and commercial businesses. R ecyclable materials are transported to the GreenWaste San Jose Material Recovery Facility (MRF), where they are processed for recovery. At the MRF, comingled recyclables are processed to remove contamination and separated by material type (e.g., paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, etc.) . The MRF then sells the separated recovered materials to brokers and/or secondary processors for further recycling. Compostable materials are transported to the GreenWaste Renewable Energy Digestion Facility, where they undergo anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy and a feedstock for compost.
Effective January 1, 2022, following a City procurement process, GWPA began transporting municipal solid waste (MSW) to the MRF for processing under the Solid Waste Processing and Disposal Services Agreement (MSW Processing Agreement). This material is processed at the MRF to recover both compostable and recyclable materials.
The materials managed by the GWPA Agreement and the M SW Processing Agreement are disparate.
GWPA collects approximately 15 ,600 tons of recyclable material annually for processing at the MRF .
Additionally, approximately 828 tons of recyclables were recovered from the City’s MSW stream in Fiscal Year 2024, representing 5.5% of the overall solid waste stream.
Goals of Report to City
At the end of 2018, Palo Alto City Council gave City staff direction to report on the intermediate and final disposition of Palo Alto’s recovered paper and plastic. City staff and GWPA agreed that as a goal, GWPA would attempt to gather information on the environmental and social implications associated with the full life cycle of Palo Alto Recyclable Materials.
The expectation of the new Attachment to the Agreement, “ Environmental and Social Impacts of Processing Recyclable Materials”, was that GWPA would request information from the “primary purchasers” of Palo Alto’s recyclable materials and then conduct a desk study based on the provided information.
According to the City of Palo Alto’s May 24, 2021 report to City Council (Staff Report #11632), the ultimate goal of this analysis is to add transparency and greater accounting of the recycling markets that GreenWaste uses for Palo Alto’s recyclables. Additionally, this information is to be used to guide City staff in utilizing domestic markets for Palo Alto’s recyclables, where feasible.
The first GWPA Traceability Report under this new agreement was published in 2019. Subsequent reports have been published annually since then.
Targeted Recyclables for Traceability
GWPA collects an assortment of recyclables, including cardboard, paper, plastics, metal, and glass from Palo Alto residents and businesses via their blue recycling containers. Some of these materials, such as
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metal, have historically maintained strong domestic recycling markets, whereas o thers, such as mixed paper and plastics, have historically had very limited domestic recycling options.
For that reason, the materials targeted for traceability in this report include plastics #1 - #7, which include PET, HPDE, rigid plastics, and film plastics, mixed paper, and cardboard.
Barriers and Challenges
Market Upheaval
In 2017, the Chinese government implemented a program called “National Sword”, which banned the import of 24 recyclable materials , including cardboard, mixed paper, and low grade plastics into the country to reduce pollution associated with these materials (https://www2.calrecycle.ca.gov/Docs/Web/113400). At the time, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) summarized the ramifications of this ban on California’s recycling system:
“The export of baled recyclable materials has been a key component of California's recycling infrastructure. Currently, CalRecycle estimates that California exports a third of all recyclable material generated in the state annually to foreign markets; of that, 62 percent goes to China.
This movement of materials has been critical in assisting the state and local jurisdictions in reaching their recycling and diversion goals. However, recent changes to China's policies on imported recyclable materials, which set strict new limits and contamination standards, are impacting cities and counties in California”
This ban led cities and states across the U.S. to search for and utilize alternative recycling markets , including in Malaysia, India, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Commodities Markets & Trade Secrets
GreenWaste Recovery, LLC (GWR) is the City’s recyclables processor and markets its recyclable commodities to brokers and/or secondary processors . As the marketers of their own recyclable commodities, GWR has borne witness to how inconsistent and unpredictable commodities markets can be.
Once the material is sold, it may change hands many times or undergo further processing before reaching its ultimate destination, making the full life cycle of commodities extremely difficult to track. Brokers may have incomplete information regarding the final destination of materials , may be unwilling to share information due to confidentiality concerns, or may be unable to place requirements on their customers.
Information on commodity markets, pricing, buyers, and other information pertaining to commodity sales transactions constitute confidential and proprietary corporate Trade Secrets. This information is not public knowledge or general knowledge and maintains intrinsic value by being safeguarded from disclosure.
GWR and its brokers stand to be harmed by the disclosure of Trade Secrets as follows:
• Losing markets for specific materials (e.g., plastic clamshells or film plastics), • Losing in-state markets and only having available domestic or international markets, • Losing domestic markets and only having available international markets, or • Jeopardizing relationships with buyers, with the potential to lose business.
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Limited Domestic Markets
While r ecycling operations across North America have been adding processing capacity , d omestic innovation continues to be far from providing sufficient capacity for all recycled materials generated in the U.S. This is especially true in California, where inefficient permitting processes and bureaucratic delays can make permitting new recycling facilities, such as pulp and paper plants, lengthy and challenging. The permitting process for building in- state recycling infrastructure will need to be streamlined and consolidated to meet the increasing demand for these facilities.
Cost
The domestic recycling markets that do exist come at a significant increase in cost for certain material types, such as mixed paper. For example, while international markets and brokers buy mixed paper from GWR, GWR must pay domestic markets to recycle that same mixed paper, which is being done for Palo Alto.
As domestic recycling capacity increases, the cost of recycling materials within the U.S. may decrease, however, the demand for domestic recycling markets may continue to outpace the available capacity, continuing to escalate cost.
Domestic Markets
GWPA worked with GWR to identify and secure capacity with existing domestic processors of cardboard, mixed paper, and plastic to provide greater assurances regarding the traceability of the City’s recyclable materials and to ensure that processing adheres to U.S. environmental standards. Domestic markets are generally more expensive and competitive than international markets and securing space with these processors can be a challenge due to limited capacity.
To confront this challenge, City staff and GWPA developed a three- month pilot program between April and June 2022 to take 100% of Palo Alto’s mixed paper and mixed rigid plastics to processing facilities within the United States. Mixed paper is comprised o f various types of clean and dry paper that is collected from residents and businesses in Palo Alto such as colored paper, magazines, junk mail, envelopes, and paper bags. Mixed rigid plastic is primarily comprised of plastic items including buckets, toys, and milk crates. During the pilot, mixed paper was sent to a pulp and paper mill in northern Louisiana, while mixed rigid plastic was sent to a processing facility in southern California.
In June 2022, City Council approved this program to continue in Fiscal Year 2023 and onward with the goal to keep roughly 60% of the recyclable materials in the United States to be processed, reducing the amount to be exported to about 40 % with only cardboard and PET plastic clamshells being processed internationally. Cardboard was not originally selected as a material to be kept domestically since it is high quality, contains low contaminants, was desired by processing facilities, and had consistent market demand to be recycled. Additionally, the added cost of recycling cardboard domestically had historically proven to be prohibitive. PET plastic clamshells were not selected to be kept domestically because there were no viable domestic markets available for this material. While PET plastic clamshells are processed internationally, they are still being processed within North America at a recycling facility in Mexico.
In early summer 2024, GWR identified and presented a domestic cardboard market located in Washington state to the City. The City approved the use of this domestic market for approximately 313 tons of cardboard in June 2024 and at the time of this report, GWR is currently utilizing this market for Palo Alto’s cardboard.
In Fiscal Year 2024, approximately 3,201 tons of Palo Alto’s mixed paper were processed and recycled within the United States at the same northern Louisiana facility utilized during the pilot program.
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Additionally, approximately 136 tons of mixed rigid plastic were processed and recycled at a domestic facility in St. Louis, Missouri.
Explored the Hefty® ReNew™ Program
In July 2024, GWPA presented the City with an opportunity to participate in Hefty® ReNew™ Program.
The program “establishes a way to collect otherwise hard-to-recycle plastics at curbside and uses them as valued resources.” ( https://www.hefty.com/products/hefty-renew). These hard -to-recycle plastics include common items like snack and candy wrappers and foam packaging materials. Hefty® utilizes 100% domestic recycling markets for these materials and recycles them into such items as building and drainage materials and composite wood products. There are currently 9 major U.S. cities enrolled in this program including Tucson, AZ, Boise, ID, and Atlanta, GA. In the Bay Area, there are currently 3 cities in GreenWaste service areas enrolled in this program, which are Atherton, Woodside, and Los Altos Hills.
This program would require interested residents and businesses in Palo Alto to voluntarily purchase the orange Hefty® ReNew™ bags, sort their hard-to-recycle plastics to fill the orange bags, and place them inside the regular City-issued blue recycling containers. Then, the GWR MRF would extract these bags and send them to Hefty® for recycling domestically.
City staff determined that this new program is not feasible for the community at this time. This program would require participants to separate their waste into a fourth sort, increase the generation and u sage of plastic bags, incur increased costs for the participants to purchase additional plastic trash bags, and increase the chances of these hard- to-recycled plastics to contaminate the existing remarkably clean recyclables from Palo Alto.
GWR remains committed to exploring new recycling opportunities and technologies to further divert material from the landfill and decrease environmental and social impacts, in furtherance of Palo Alto’s goal of zero waste.
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Summary
GWR and GWPA staff worked in coordination to obtain supplementary marketing, processing, and disposal information from GWR’s primary recyclable commodity purchasers. The following tables summarize all the recyclable materials collected at the MRF and their end market destinations. Table 1 summarizes the recyclable materials collected at the MRF from Palo Alto and other cities, materials sorted by commodity types, and the percentage of domestic vs. international markets utilized. The same analysis for Palo Alto’s portion is estimated and summarized in Table 2. Table 3 summarizes the list of GWR’s primary purchasers for plastics and fiber (paper and cardboard) and the locations of secondary processing (if applicable) or final destinations of the materials.
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Table 1: GreenWaste Recovery San Jose Material Recovery Facility Tonnage Summary - Facility Wide
Material Type FY 2024 Actual
MRF Tonnage
Percentage of Total
Recyclables Domestic International
Aluminum Cans 1,815.98 1.17% 100% 0%
Aluminum Foil/Scrap 639.99 0.41% 92% 8%
Ferrous/Tin 3,817.94 2.45% 100% 0%
Glass, Commingled 36,089.17 23.16% 100% 0%
Plastic, HDPE Color 1,951.25 1.25% 86% 14%
Plastic,
HDPE Natural 1,560.75 1.00% 86% 14%
Plastic, PET Bottles 4,545.92 2.92% 69% 31%
Plastic, PET
Clamshells 1,085.28 0.70% 0% 100%
Plastic, Mixed Rigid 2,725.09 1.75% 11% 89%
Plastic, #2 - #7 1,517.09 0.97% 11% 89%
Film Plastics 361.49 0.23% 93% 7%
Mixed Paper 19,060.84 12.23% 19% 81%
Cardboard 71,491.25 45.88% 3% 97%
Scrap Metal 9,027.32 5.79% 100% 0%
E-Waste 129.90 0.08% 100% 0%
Total 155,819.26 100% 41%1 59%1
1 Weighted Average
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Palo Alto Only Tonnage Estimated Summary
Determining Palo Alto’s tonnage for each recyclable material category presents a challenge because once Palo Alto’s recyclables are delivered to the MRF, they are combined with recyclables from other communities. Table 2 below provides an estimate of Palo Alto’s share of the total recyclable material processed by the MRF. In Fiscal Year 2024 , Palo Alto’s recyclables made up 10 % of the MRF’s total material, or 15,575.64 tons. This percentage was used in Table 2 to estimate Palo Alto’s tonnage for each material type, based on the facility-wide data from the MRF.
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Table 2: Palo Alto’s Estimated Tonnage as a Percentage of MRF’s Total Material Type
FY 2024 Palo Alto
Estimated Tonnage
(est. 10% of MRF)
Domestic Export
Aluminum Cans 181.52 100% 0%
Aluminum Foil/Scrap 63.97 100% 0%
Ferrous/Tin 381.64 100% 0%
Glass, Commingled 3,607.46 100% 0%
Plastic HDPE Color 195.05 100% 0%
Plastic, HDPE Natural 156.01 100% 0%
Plastic, PET Bottles 454.41 100% 0%
Plastic, PET Clamshells1 108.48 0% 100%1
Plastic, Mixed Rigid 272.40 100% 0%
Plastic, #2 - # 7 151.65 100% 0%
Film Plastic 36.13 100% 0%
Mixed Paper 1,905.32 100% 0%
Cardboard 7,146.24 10% 90%
Scrap Metal 902.37 100% 0%
E-Waste 12.98 100% 0%
Total 15,575.64 58%2 42%2
1 The market for plastic PET clamshells is in North America (Mexicali, Mexico). 2 Weighted Average
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Table 3: Primary Purchaser Summary – Palo Alto’s Plastics & Fiber
Material Company Domestic? International? Export Status Market Location Mixed Paper CellMark Yes No Domestic: 100% Shreveport,
Louisiana
Cardboard
CellMark, Berg Mill, Fibre
Trade, Newport CH
International
Yes Yes Domestic: 10%
International: 90%
Longview,
Washington; Mexico;
Southeast Asia
PET CellMark & Berg Mill Yes No Domestic: 100% Riverside, California PET
Clamshells Direct Pack No Yes International: 100% Mexicali, Mexico HDPE Envision Plastics & Berg
Mill Yes No Domestic: 100% Chino, California;
Alabama
Mixed Rigid
Plastics CellMark Yes No Domestic: 100% St. Louis, Missouri Mixed
Plastic #2-#7 CellMark Yes No Domestic: 100% Chino Hills, California Film Plastic CellMark Yes No Domestic: 100% Chino Hills, California
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CellMark Inc. (Novato, CA)
In Fiscal Year 2024, CellMark purchased 90% of Palo Alto’s cardboard, paper, and plastics because it primarily utilizes domestic markets for these recyclables. CellMark submitted partial traceability data for the cardboard, mixed paper, PET, mixed plastics, and film plastics it purchased from GWR.
CellMark is both a brokerage and a secondary processor, and its purchasers are secondary processors.
For plastic, t he secondary processing includes chipping, washing, and pelletizing. For cardboard and paper, the secondary processing includes pulpifying.
Per the CellMark website, CellMark participates in initiatives to ensure sustainability. CellMark comments on its sustainability via its CSR webpages (https://www.cellmark.com/ideas-values/sustainability-csr/):
“CellMark is proud to conduct our services and business activities with a high degree of ethics and awareness of sustainability. We adhere to defined common standards for our performance, participate in multiple initiatives in support of sustainability and continually look for ways to improve our performance.”
“We respect and comply with local legislation and environmental regulations in all of our global operations. We enable our employees to participate in charitable initiatives, and we invite our business partners to join us in our support of different non-profit organizations locally and globally.” “CellMark is a member of the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) and as such is committed to product stewardship and responsible distribution in every phase of chemical storage, handling, transportation and disposal.”
CellMark’s 2023 Sustainability Report, published in May 2024, states that:
“CellMark supports and works actively to comply with international guidelines regarding environment, human rights, and business ethics, including
• The UN Global Compact Initiative.
• Internationally proclaimed human rights standards and conventions (in particular the International Bill of Human Rights, the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the eight core conventions of the International Labour Organization, and Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child). • The OECD Convention on combating bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
• The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.”
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In 2023 and in response to Canadian Bill S-211 Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, CellMark provided the following statements on their human rights and environmental due diligence efforts (https://www.cellmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CellMark-AB-2023-Canada-Forced-labor-and- child-labor-in-supply-chains-statement.pdf):
“CellMark’s main commitments can be summarized as follows:
• As a principle, we comply with the laws and regulations that apply in the countries in which we operate.
• We care about our business partners. Our success relies on long-term relationships with our customers, suppliers, and service providers, founded on trust. • We care about our employees. As CellMark's success relies also on the unique knowledge and experience of its employees, the Group strives to preserve good working conditions for all.
• We apply "precautionary principles". We take precautions when there are reasons to believe that a potential action may negatively impact a person's health or safety, the society, or the environment.
• We are committed to respecting and promoting human rights as well as protecting children's rights. We condemn modern slavery and forced labor.
• We encourage employees to express their views and opinions, and raise their concerns regarding unacceptable behavior and actions, without fear of retaliation.
In relation to potential environmental and social impacts of CellMark’s business partners , CellMark detailed the following in the same statement:
“CellMark’s Code of Conduct for Business Partners sets out CellMark's expectations toward its business partners in the fields of business ethics, environment, and human rights & working conditions. The Code of Conduct for Business Partners builds on, and reiterates, CellMark's commitment to comply and work actively with the above mentioned international guidelines regarding environment, human rights and business ethics (see section on the Code of Conduct).” CellMark also outlined its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy:
“In addition to its Code of Conduct, the Group has implemented a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy that includes a set of principles for procurement activities so as to assess and consider potential human rights risks across the supply chain. This incl udes that the sourcing of new commodity suppliers should include:
• due diligence efforts to ensure that the products sourced in relation to their business with CellMark do not contribute, or is not directly linked, to human rights abuses. • Written undertaking from the supplier that it will comply with CellMark' s Code of Conduct for Business Partners which prohibits forced or child labor and promotes decent working conditions.
The Corporate Social Responsibility Policy further sets out that a supplier may be terminated if:
• it refuses to perform an audit or refuses to provide a letter of assurance or any other type of integrity undertaking
• the monitoring of the business partner reveals non- compliance with applicable laws or with the Code of Conduct for Business Partners.”
The following is a diagram showing which U.S. cities and states the cardboard, paper, and plastics purchased by CellMark are sent to.
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A May 6, 2024 article detailed CellMark’s recent EcoVadis award:
CellMark awarded EcoVadis Gold Rating for 2024
“CellMark has received a Gold Rating for our sustainability performance from the independent rating organization EcoVadis. This means we rank among the top 5% of companies assessed in our business category by EcoVadis in the past 12 months.”
(https://www.cellmark.com/2024/05/06/cellmark-awarded-ecovadis-gold-rating-for-2024)
CellMark’s 2023 Sustainability Report confirm ed that the Total Fiber Recovery facility is almost operational:
Cardboard Longview, WA
Mixed Paper Shreveport, LA
PET Riverside, CA
Mixed Rigid
Plastic St. Louis, MO
Mixed Plastic
#2 - #7 Chino Hills, CA
Film Plastic Chino Hills, CA
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CellMark: Significant events in 2023
“In line with the partnership agreement signed with Total Fiber Recovery in 2022, the Group focused on the building of an 80 million USD recycled pulp production facility in the city of Chesapeake, Virginia, USA. The new facility and joint venture (of which CellMark owns 50 percent percent) are both called Total Fiber Recovery @ Chesapeake. Initially planned to be operational in Q4, 2023, the facility is now planned to open in 2024. CellMark Recycling will supply 300 000 tons of mixed paper and old corrugat ed containers, annually, as feedstock to the facility. The recycled brown pulp produced by the facility will be sold exclusively by CellMark Pulp.” (https://www.cellmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CellMark-Sustainability-Report-2023.pdf) CellMark’s 2022 Sustainability Report provided an update on its Total Fiber Recovery facility:
CellMark: Significant events in 2022
“CellMark entered into a partnership with Total Fiber Recovery to build an 80 million USD recycled pulp production facility in the city of Chesapeake, Virginia, USA. The new facility and joint venture are both called Total Fiber Recovery @ Chesapeake (or TFRC) and should be operational in Q4, 2023.
CellMark Recycling will supply 300 000 tons of mixed paper and old corrugated containers, annually, as feedstock to the facility. The recycled brown pulp produced by the facility will be sold exclusively by CellMark Pulp.”
(https://www.cellmark.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CellMark-Sustainability-Report-2022.pdf)
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Berg Mill Supply/Classic Fibres (Los Angeles, CA)
Berg Mill submitted partial traceability data for a portion of Palo Alto’s c ardboard, PET, and HDPE it purchased from GWR in Fiscal Year 2024.
Berg Mill Supply is a brokerage and provides general data on its website about the destination of its exports. Per the Berg Mill Supply website: (https://bergmill.com/about/where-berg-mill-ships/) “Our mission statement and vision is our belief in contributing to a sustainable planet, leading us on our path of environmental management for future generations. Berg Mill’s purpose is to create value by offering green solutions to those generating waste and to consumers looking to recycle.” “Berg Mill Supply Co., Inc. redirects waste from material recovery facilities (MRF) in the United States to end users in international locations, where the material is processed and a new material is produced.”
“We sell material suitable for many different countries abroad such as China, Indonesia, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Malaysi,a Pakistan, Laos, Costa Rica, Brazil, and USA.” The following is a diagram showing the locations of where cardboard and plastics purchased by Berg Mill are sent to.
The following is a diagram showing which countries the cardboard purchased by Berg Mill is sent to.
Both the PET and HDPE Berg Mill purchases from GWR are sent to recycling facilities within the U.S. that adhere to local, state, and federal environmental standards.
Cardboard Did not provide
PET California
HDPE Alabama
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Fibre Trade Inc. (Burlingame, CA)
Fibre Trade did not provide any information on the small portion of cardboard it purchased from GWR in Fiscal Year 2024. The latest report was from 2021 indicating its end markets for cardboard were in the United States, Mexico, and Southeast Asia.
Fibre Trade is a brokerage. Per its website, Fibre Trade is a direct exporter of primarily recovered paper, pulp, and mineral products from the USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan to affiliated paper mills all over the world. (https://www.fibretrade.net/)
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Newport CH International (Orange, CA)
Newport CH International did not submit traceability data but did provide basic information about the company. Newport purchased a small portion of Palo Alto’s cardboard from GWR in Fiscal Year 2024.
Newport manufactures products and is a brokerage. Per its website, Newport focuses on the purchase and direct export of recyclable paper and plastics. Newport maintains ISO14001 certification, which is the international standard that specifies requirements for an effective environmental management system (EMS).
In 2023, the company was ranked by the Journal of Commerce as the #13 top U.S. recyclables exporters. (https://www.joc.com/article/top-100-importerexporter-rankings-biggest-shippers-rise-down- year_20240520.html)
The following statements are made on the Newport CH International website. “Our expertise is sourcing recyclable paper and plastics throughout North America. We are direct export shippers for the recycling industry, supplying numerous mills in China, as well as many other Asian countries. We provide quality raw material for their state of the art mills and manufacturing facilities.
Our overseas customers have the assurance of consistent supply and quality. Newport CH handles all logistics in- house, including shipping line rate negotiations, bookings and local drayage assistance. We take care of all required export documentation and banking transactions from our corporate office in Orange, California. To facilitate our exports to China we are AQSIQ certified and are an approved CCIC self-inspection company. In addition, we hold ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications for our global quali ty management system, demonstrating our organizations continued commitment to quality. Newport CH strives to encourage growth in the recycling industry by being supportive and involved with numerous state and local government agencies.
Through our office in Shanghai, China we are able to work directly with the mill buyers in order to meet their requirements. We are in constant communication with our Shanghai office to stay apprised of any market changes or concerns with material arriving into China.” (http://newportch.com/)
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Direct Pack Recycling (Azusa, CA)
Direct Pack Recycling is the primary purchaser of Palo Alto’s PET clamshells. PET Clamshells are thermoformed plastic packaging, typically used for food packaging. Examples include plastic salad containers, take out containers, and fruit containers.
Per its website, Direct Pack is a leader in sustainable and innovative thermoformed food packaging recycling and manufacturing.
“We operate our own recycling and reclaiming facility. With capacity to recycle 20,000 tons of PET plastic per year, it allows us to move closer to a full circle manufacturing process.” “In our full circle process, we use post -consumer recycled PET bottles and thermoformed packaging to make new food containers. At Direct Pack Recycling we sort, wash and flake recycled PET material that then goes to one of our thermoforming facilities to be turned into new strawberry, lettuce, salad or take-out containers. After use, our containers can be recycled again – they are not garbage, but a valuable infinite resource. “Since 2020, Direct Pack Recycling has recycled over 74.4 million pounds of plastics – not only bottles but also mixed thermoformed PET containers – and repurposed them back into new packaging.”
(https://www.directpackinc.com/about-us/)
The following is a diagram showing which countries the PET clamshells purchased by Direct Pack Recycling are sent to.
An article posted on November 5, 2024, stated the following:
Direct Pack Plants Achieve BRCGS Certification
“Recently, we achieved a new milestone: both our manufacturing plants in Mexico—Direct Pack de México (DPM) and Direct Pack Baja (DPB) —have been awarded the BRCGS Packaging Materials Certification. This recognition highlights our commitment to producing safe, high-quality packaging that meets the highest global standards, benefitting both our customers and the environment. The BRCGS Packaging Materials Certification is a globally recognized standard for safety, quality, and compliance across the packaging supply chain, developed by the British Retail Consortium Global Standards. It provides a framework for packaging manufacturers to produce safe, reliable materials and meet customers’ expectations for quality and regulatory compliance.
Both facilities received an ‘A’ grade under the standard criteria developed by BRCGS.”
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An internet search resulted in a pertinent article published in WasteDive on February 10, 2023:
Direct Pack gets Recycling Partnership grant for PET thermoform recycling in Mexico
“The Recycling Partnership recently awarded Direct Pack, a manufacturer and recycler of thermoformed PET packaging, a grant supporting construction of a PET reclamation operation in Mexicali, Mexico, that will source material from U.S. MRFs to produce recyc led content for new packaging. Direct Pack’s project in Mexicali is its second PET reclamation facility in the area, which the company expects will produce an additional 15,000 tons of recycled content for new packaging. A spokesperson said this second fac ility will have ‘significant added space for PET bale storage,’ as well as new equipment on the wash line that was developed by the company and will be used in its other facilities. Construction of the new facility is said to be ‘near complete’ and testing is underway. Snedden added in Direct Pack’s press release that the grant money allows the company ‘to scale our recycling operations more quickly, and take in even more PET plastic from MRFs, keeping it out of landfills.’”
(https://www.wastedive.com/news/pet-recycling-direct-pack-phoenix/642246/)
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Envision Plastics (Chino, CA)
Envision Plastics is a leading recycler of HDPE plastics and supplier of Post -Consumer Resin (PCR).
Envision purchases HDPE from GWR and washes, chips, and pelletizes the material. Envision lists six different products that it creates from recovered plastic: Ecoprime®, Natural Color, Mixed Color, Oceanbound Plastic, Prisma®, and Deodorized.
The following is a diagram showing the destination of HDPE purchased by Envision Plastics.
Envision Plastics is headquartered in Reidsville, North Carolina and has a west coast plant in Chino, California. Envision’s parent company, Altium Packaging (previously Consolidated Container Company) includes “Act with Integrity and in Compliance” as one of its core values. ( https://altiumpkg.com/why- altium/our-guiding-principles/)
An internet search resulted in a pertinent article posted on June 27, 2023:
Envision adding second line for recycled HDPE, PP
Envision Plastics is leaning into demand for PCR and putting millions of dollars into adding another recycled food-grade HDPE and PP processing line at an existing facility.
The expansion at Envision’s Reidsville, N.C. plant gives the company flexibility to switch between producing its HDPE, dubbed “EcoPrime,” and post-consumer PP. The additional production line will increase Envision’s capacity to produce EcoPrime by 50%...
There is another facility in Chino, Calif., that produces EcoPrime. Envision’s current combined capacity is about 55 million pounds of EcoPrime annually. The second line in North Carolina will add another between 25 million and 30 million pounds annually...
EcoPrime is FDA-authorized, curbside collected, recycled HDPE resin that, even in 100% PCR containers, is fit for direct contact with food and beverages, a press release noted. It has earned letters of no-objection from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada, so it can be used in a wide range of applications including rigid bottles, caps and closures, and blown film, for industries such as dairy, water, cosmetics and nutraceuticals. (https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2023/06/27/envision-adding-second-line-for-recycled- hdpe-pp/)
A March 6, 2023, article detailed Envision Plastic’s recent EcoVadis award:
Envision Plastics Receives EcoVadis Silver Award for Sustainability Envision Plastics, a leading producer of mechanically recycled High Density Polyethylene and Polypropylene Post -Consumer Resin (HDPE and PP PCR) products in North America, announced today that it earned a silver recognition medal from EcoVadis for its sust ainability efforts. Envision’s ranking puts them within the top 20% of those participating in the assessment and indicates their ongoing commitment to sustainability, with an emphasis on environmental policies, carbon footprint, labor, and safety laws. It also shows an increase in the company’s rating from last year.
HDPE Chino, CA
22 Initial Review of Certificate of End Use &
Traceability Data, 2024
(https://www.prweb.com/releases/2023/03/prweb19202224.htm)
Finally, Envison Plastic’s OceanBound Plastic recycling program aims to remove 10 million pounds of plastic before it enters the ocean at “At Risk Zones” defined by areas within 50km of coastline, with a focus on communities lacking formal waste collection. According to their FAQ webpage on the program, Envision Plastics works with partners “to professionalize the collection stream, collect this plastic, and manufacture it into usable products.” (https://envisionplastics.com/oceanbound-plastic/)