The plant is expected to process 80,000 metric tons of end-of-life tires annually.

Wastefront AS, a waste tire recycling company based in Norway, and Technip Energies, a project management company based in Paris, have announced a partnership for the construction of Wastefront’s tire recycling facility in Sunderland, England. Technip Energies will oversee the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the £100 million (about $113 million) plant.

Wastefront says Technip Energies was selected following a competitive project analysis and execution pathway study phase. The construction phase will start in the second quarter of 2022 and be accompanied by Technip Energies until the plant’s start-up, expected in the first quarter of 2024. 

When fully commissioned, the Sunderland plant will have an annual processing capacity of 80,000 metric tons of end-of-life tires. 

“We are extremely pleased to support Wastefront in their development,” says Arnaud Pieton, CEO of Tecnip Energies. “This project, which leverages both our engineering and project management capabilities, will be led by our teams in the U.K.”

Wastefront and Technip Energies say they have agreed on a strategic partnership to deploy Wastefront projects worldwide. The Sunderland plant is being used as a blueprint for global replication.

Wastefront plans to build a global green industrial platform to recycle part of the 29 million metric tons of end-of-life tires produced annually into high-value products.

“Our mission is to solve complex environmental issues, through a solution that has demonstrated its full alignment with EU/U.K. taxonomy targets,” says Vianney Vales, CEO of Wastefront. “To succeed, a rigorous approach to project execution is key. Having Technip Energies, one of the most respected EPC companies in the world, endorse our approach and support our project is yet another step in our ambition to build a world scale green industrial platform.”

The company also teamed up with Vitol, an international oil trader, which will offtake Wastefront’s liquid products and an investor in the company.

Speakers at a NERC and NEWMOA webinar analyze the impact of recycled-content mandates and how they facilitate a circular economy.

Since California became the first state in the U.S. to require minimum postconsumer resin (PCR) content in plastic bottles with Assembly Bill 793, signed into law in October 2020, much has been discussed about the benefits of enacting minimum PCR content standards and how implementing these laws impacts recyclers and consumers alike.

California’s law sets a series of graduated minimum PCR-content standards for all plastic beverage containers—the first of which went into effect Jan. 1—and seeks to improve the recycled plastic market by increasing demand. According to AB 793, plastic beverage containers sold or manufactured in California must include at least 15 percent PCR by Jan. 1 at least 25 percent by Jan. 1, 2025, and at least 50 percent by Jan. 1, 2030.

The beverage container law follows a separate law in California that was signed in 2014. The law bans single-use plastic bags and requires all reusable plastic grocery bags be made with a minimum of 40 percent PCR. These reusable bags also must be recyclable and must be at least 2.25 millimeters thick, according to CalRecyle.

Mark Murray, executive director of Sacramento-based Californians Against Waste, said California has one of the nation’s most successful bottle bills, but more than 3 billion bottles still are dumped in landfills each year. Since China implemented its “National Sword” policy in 2018, banning the import of most postconsumer plastic scrap and other recyclables, so much more of that previously recycled material now ends up in landfills, he added.

These shortcomings surrounding plastics recycling have forced industry leaders to reevaluate their approaches to advocacy and legislation. In a webinar the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) and the Northeast Waste Management Officials’ Association (NEWMOA) hosted Jan. 6 called Recycled Content Mandates: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, experts, including Murray, offered thoughts on how to continue improving recycled-content mandates for the best economic and environmental results.

“This experience in California, we’ve had some successes, we’ve had some failures, we’ve had a lot of false starts, and the main thing is it’s taken us an awfully long time to get to where we are,” he said. “But I would say that where we are right now is having a strong model for how do you advance and sustain producer responsibility for a circular materials economy.”

Recognizing producer responsibility was a key focus of the discussion. Murray said California’s law does a sufficient job of holding all manufacturers accountable for achieving the same rates of recyclability.

“The idea behind this is more than just creating markets for recycled material. It is ultimately making manufacturers partners in ensuring they have sufficient material to meet this requirement,” Murray said. “At the end of the day, this policy provides the ultimate incentive for the manufacturers to ensure that system is working to get this material back to them, and if they have to pay in order to do that, so be it.

“This is an even-playing-field way for all material types to comply,” he added. “The amount of material exists for them to comply with the recycled content requirement through actual utilization of the postconsumer material.”

Currently, California and Washington are the only states with recycled content mandates, while Oregon and Maine have enacted extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws, and New Jersey has proposed EPR legislation.

EPR laws differ from recycled-content mandates in that they focus on the end-of-use treatment of consumer products and have the primary aim to increase the amount and degree of product recovery and to minimize the environmental impact of waste, according to a 2014 article by Michael R. Johnson and Ian P. McCarthy in the Journal of Engineering and Technology Management.

Steve Alexander, president and CEO of The Association of Plastic Recyclers, Washington, said the laws obviously increase demand for PCR, but sometimes that singular focus can have a negative impact on recycling, which has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on the supply chain.

Some reprocessors have expressed concern that supply will be insufficient to meet demand, which could have an effect on pricing.

Lori Carson, site manager for PET recycler Phoenix Technologies International LLC based in Bowling Green, Ohio, noted during a panel at the 2021 Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference Webinar Series that recycled-content mandates “have the potential to really disrupt the market because there are not yet mandates for collection.” Carson added that recycled-content mandates likely will force the price up because robust supply is not yet in place.

“If you think about what’s happening with current inflationary pressures that we’re facing, the administrative policies trying to help us all through this pandemic have certainly created a demand side for product and material,” Alexander said during the webinar. “The difficulty is that we also need to make sure we focus on the supply side, because the impact that we’ve had on supply chain problems across our economy has led to inflationary pressures.”

Improving material supply starts with the design of the product itself, Alexander said, because relying on current systems to capture all the material available for reclamation doesn’t work—mainly because of consumer confusion around what can be recycled. Creating a product that has what he called “circularity by design” might not eliminate all the consumer confusion, but it can eliminate much of the contamination if the product already is suitable for recycling.  

“It doesn’t matter how much material we collect, how much we separate, what the market demand is; it doesn’t matter if a product is contaminating the very stream of material that the recycling community is expected to create recycling from to meet market demand,” he said.

“We do a wonderful job of confusing the consumer,” Alexander added. “To be successful we have to design products for circularity and recyclability, then we have to enhance the supply of that material across the board, and we need to eliminate some of the confusion for consumers in the marketplace.

“Ultimately, that may lead to some winners and losers in terms of packaging and packaging types that are out there, but, at some point, if we don’t make significant changes, all we’re doing is living the definition of insanity.”

Refocusing on the postconsumer side of plastics recycling also makes the process more accessible because that’s what consumers “see, touch and feel,” Alexander said.

“If you don’t have a customer for your recycled product, all we’re doing is collecting, sorting and processing trash,” he said. So that’s why we’re focused so aggressively on demand markets for the last several years because we believe as the material flows one way through the system, the demand component is the monetization of the system.

“If you have the supply of material and you have the demand component, the infrastructure itself, the system itself, will make the investments because they have customers. … It all works together. You can’t have one without the other,” Alexander added.

David Allaway, senior policy analyst at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, headquartered in Portland, offered some nuance into the effects and limitations of recycled content mandates during the webinar, suggesting other ways to see better social and environmental outcomes than some of the current legislation offers.

Allaway explained that if your state is large and home to many producers, as California is, a PCR mandate likely will provide a boost to your local market for locally collected recyclables. But in a state such as Vermont that sells wine that is largely bottled on the other side of the continent, for example, a PCR mandate for wine bottles will help collection programs on the West Coast but won’t do much for local collection programs.

“PCR mandates help the global recycling system, but not all recycling is global,” he said.

“Many states purchase items that are far outside their borders, and this introduces a disconnect between the supply of their recycled materials, which is very local, and the demand for materials that can stretch through supply chains that are thousands of miles long.”

As with any mandate, exemptions and exceptions often can make enforcement difficult. Allaway said the best approach to recycling reform is a hybrid one that includes producer responsibility and the creation and maintenance of responsible end markets.

“Proposals for PCR mandates are not always what they appear to be,” he said, “and in some states will likely result in an outcome where recycling gets better but continues to struggle for several more decades, or until the next time public interest and the political landscape allow for significant reform. I would hope we can do better than that."

The $365 million facility will support North American automotive customers and create 140 new jobs.

Novelis Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, plans to invest $365 million to build a recycling center next to its automotive finishing plant in Guthrie, Kentucky. With annual casting capacity of 240,000 tons of sheet ingot, the company says it expects the facility to reduce its carbon emissions by more than 1 million tons annually while also allowing it to grow its closed-loop-recycling programs with North American automotive customers.

Through these closed-loop programs, Novelis takes back aluminum that remains after automotive parts have been stamped, remaking it into the same product for new vehicle production. The center also will be able to process aluminum from end-of-life vehicles, the company says, citing that using scrap to produce aluminum requires only 5 percent of the energy needed to make primary aluminum. This allows Novelis to avoid 95 percent of the carbon emissions associated with primary aluminum production. 

"Novelis aims to be the world's leading provider of low-carbon, sustainable aluminum solutions that advance our business, industry and society toward the benefits of a circular economy," says Steve Fisher, president and CEO of Novelis Inc. "Through this investment, we will continue to increase the amount of recycled content in our products, reducing our CO2 emissions and moving us closer to carbon neutrality." 

Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2022, with commissioning expected in 2024, the company says. 

When fully operational, the expansion will add approximately 140 new jobs in Guthrie. Novelis celebrated the grand opening of the automotive finishing plant in Guthrie in October of last year. That facility employs 150 people and will grow to 190 over the next two years, according to the company.

The new recycling center will feature advanced shredding and sorting technology and energy-efficient innovations that support the company's sustainability goal to reduce energy intensity by 10 percent by 2026, Novelis says.

"We are excited about this new investment in Kentucky, which will help Novelis achieve its sustainability goals, as well as support the carbon-reduction targets of our automotive customers," says Tom Boney, executive vice president and president of Novelis North America. "The commonwealth of Kentucky has been a great business partner for many years and has a strong, highly skilled workforce to meet the growing need for high-strength, low-carbon aluminum. We look forward to deepening our relationships with community leaders to ensure our facility has a lasting, beneficial impact in the region."

"As we continue to build back throughout western Kentucky, companies are committed to creating quality job opportunities for Kentucky families," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says, referencing the devastating long-track tornado that swept through that portion of the commonwealth in early December 2021.  

"I had the chance to join Novelis for the grand opening of the company's automotive aluminum finishing plant just over two months ago, and its leadership's decision to quickly move forward with plans for expansion is tremendous news. Novelis is proving to be a great fit for Todd County and the surrounding area, and I am eager to see the company continue to grow for years to come."

Novelis says it has a 37-year history of creating jobs in Kentucky and investing in local communities, employing 1,600 people in the commonwealth. In addition to its Guthrie automotive finishing facility, Novelis operates an aluminum beverage can recycling plant in Berea, Kentucky, and the Logan Aluminum joint venture in Russellville, Kentucky.

Novelis, which had net sales of $12.3 billion in its 2021 fiscal year, is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Ltd., an industry leader in aluminum and copper, and the metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India.

The site will use Agilyx technology to chemically recycle polystyrene scrap.

Agilyx, Tigard, Oregon, and Toyo Styrene Co. Ltd., an affiliate of Denka Co. Ltd., Nippon Steel Chemical & Material Co. Ltd. and Daicel Co. Ltd., have announced that the construction phase has begun on a 10-ton-per-day chemical recycling facility in Japan that uses depolymerization technology from Agilyx.  

The recycling plant will convert postuse polystyrene (PS) into a styrene monomer that will be purified using Toyo Styrene’s proprietary purification process. Styrene monomer produced from this process can then be converted into PS products with a significantly lower carbon footprint than similar products made with virgin monomer, according to a news release from Agilyx.

“As the first step toward the circular economy, we will construct a chemical recycling plant for this project, collect postindustrial materials for the time being and start a chemical recycling business,” Sanshiro Matsushita, president of Toyo Styrene, says. "Furthermore, in order to build a carbon-free society through chemical recycling in Japan, we are also planning to participate in a platform that integrates citizens, businesses and local government, which is being undertaken by Ichihara City, Chiba prefecture.”   

“The decision to move into the final stages of this project is a big accomplishment for the members of Agilyx and Toyo Styrene, who have worked tirelessly to bring us to this point,” says Tim Stedman, CEO of Agilyx. “We are very proud of their efforts and excited for the opportunity to bring our proven advanced recycling technology into the Asian markets to help improve the availability of recycled plastic content and increase global plastic recycling through circular pathways.”

Agilyx announced its partnership with Toyo Styrene in April 2020. In December of that year, the companies announced they were 30 percent complete with the final phase of developing the front-end loading design to deploy Agilyx's technology. 

New facility allows for in-house testing for lead acid and lithium-ion battery recycling processes.

London-based Technology Minerals Plc says it has opened its first laboratory suite at its new battery processing facility in Wolverhampton, U.K., that will enable Recyclus Group Ltd., a 49 percent Technology Minerals-owned company, to test lead acid and lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery recycling processes in-house. 

The testing facility features an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) unit used for measuring the elemental composition of the various battery products, which is important for examining the lead content of the lead oxide paste and the levels of sulphur. It also houses a gas chromatograph with an auto sampler that, when used in conjunction with wet chemical analysis, is crucial in establishing lithium levels and monitoring the in-process products to avoid any potential contamination, the company says. The facility also has fire-safe, lockable cabinets for housing all the essential analytical chemicals used in the monitoring of the lead and lithium recycling processes.

Robin Brundle, chairman of Technology Minerals, says the opening of the lab corresponds with the company’s strategy and development program for commissioning the first of its lithium-ion plants. “It is another step towards our goal to significantly increase our recycling capacity in 2022 for lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries and ultimately help enhance the U.K.’s capabilities for battery recycling.”