Efforts to collect and sort paper coffee cups for recycling could boost an already high paper recycling rate in the U.S.
Collection networks for old corrugated containers (OCC), office paper and other packaging and printing and writing grades are well-established in the United States, leading to a 2020 national paper recycling rate of nearly 66 percent, according to the Washington-based American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA).
For that rate to rise any higher, the collection of scrap paper used in other applications likely will need to increase, and one stream eyed by recycling advocates and paper producers alike consists of paper coffee and beverage cups.
Americans use some 136 million paper beverage cups per day, according to a 2020 North Carolina State University study. Globally, the annual consumption of paperboard cup stock is expected to reach 6.8 million metric tons by 2025, according to a 2019 study by Finland-based Markham Charta Oy.
A white paper released by Atlanta-based Moore & Associates this January observes, “As consumers and activist groups pressure large chain restaurants and consumer packaged goods brands to make packaging more recyclable, there is growing interest and activity in paper cup recycling.”
The 13-page document presents case studies and examples from paper mills and material recovery facilities (MRFs) on their experiences in handling used cups as a secondary fiber grade.
Bill Moore and Susan Cornish of Moore & Associates tell Recycling Today they are continuing to gather information on collection and sorting methods and mill acceptance of used paper beverage cups.
Cup board as a postindustrial paper grade has long been recyclable, says Joel Litman of Dallas-based Texas Recycling. “Coffee cup manufacturers are already recycling their scrap generation and have been doing so for years,” he comments.
“Because of the [polymer coating] used in the manufacturing of the cups, the end-use markets for the scrap are limited but are constant,” Litman says. “Usually, these are export markets.” He adds, “This grade is kept separate at the generator” manufacturing plant.
The polymer coating used to keep the paperboard liquid-resistant is one reason why cup board has fewer end market destinations compared with many other board grades. “The challenge for mills in using cups and other polycoated paper packaging has always been the time required in the hydro pulper to remove the paper fiber from the poly layer,” states the Moore & Associates report.
Nonetheless, the hunt for fiber by mills and the pressure to be sustainable placed on retailers has led to considerable testing of methods to collect and pulp used cups.
Among the MRF operators the Moore & Associates report cites is Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based Millennium Recycling. Contacted in early May by Recycling Today, the company’s Shannon Dwire says cup recycling was a topic of conversation at a joint Recycling Industry of Minnesota (RAM) and Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) industry event she had attended earlier that day.
Dwire says some environmental advocates prefer the “reduce” option for the cups—having them replaced by reusable mugs or cups. She says, though, that because they exist Millennium has made the attempt to recycle them and has met with some success.
Millennium ’s MRF sorting system can handle the cups “just fine,” she comments. Dwire says while some MRFs attempt a positive sort, “In our single-stream system, most fiber goes to mixed paper, and the cups end up there and get marketed back to mills that want to close the loop.”
Because of the two-dimensional versus three-dimensional nature of sorting fiber from plastic and metal containers, Dwire says the odds of the cups entering the fiber stream improve “if they’re kind of crushed.”
Lee Cornell of First Star Recycling in Omaha, Nebraska, reports similar results. “When running on a single-stream line, the cups are likely to be flattened and go with other two-dimensional materials, like paper and cardboard,” he comments.
“If the cups pass through to the container side due to behaving as a three-dimensional material, it will require another sort to harvest them, and it’s unlikely most operations will do that,” he adds. “If they go to the container side, it’s more likely they will be treated as miscellaneous paper. In some operations, unfortunately, this is trash.”
The Millennium Recycling MRF has an optical sorter in place to identify paperboard cartons, so at that stage cups often join the cartons. Thus the optical sort “throws [the cups and cartons] into the mixed paper,” creating “less work for hand sorters.”
Millennium collects cups in household and small business single-stream programs. The company does not closely measure the volume of cups streaming in, “But you see them in there; they’re in the mix,” Dwire says.
Cornell adds, “Collecting recyclable coffee cups from commercial points of generation is possible, as long as the weight justifies pick up.” More often, he says, “This generally means picking up with other materials. Commercial single-stream likely makes sense–collect these cups, bottles, OCC, office paper and various other materials.”
Collecting cups separately at coffee shops or fast food outlets has not met with rapid acceptance, Litman says. “Starbucks had a trial program at a few New York City shops some years ago, but it proved unsuccessful."
Leonard Zeid, a St. Louis-based broker with Midland-Davis, also points to the Starbucks trial when commenting, “I don’t think this is viable collection; they will weigh little and would have to be kept in separate plastic bags, etc., from the trash. I have seen [retailers] throwing away empty dairy (natural high-density polyethylene, or HDPE) plastic jugs because they have no way to store them, [and] those natural dairy jugs at times have been priced higher per pound than [aluminum] UBCs.”
Space constraints and pest control concerns mean “keeping the cup separate from the trash generated at the store, and the volume needed to be viable, are challenging,” says Litman. “Plus, the cups may still contain some amount of liquid.”
Food and beverage residue is unwelcome at traditional paperstock plants, but MRF operators already cope with it as a daily challenge. “Residue, such as sugar or milk or coffee in a single-stream program should not be much of an issue,” Cornell says. “Think about beer, soda and water bottles, which usually have a small amount of residue.”
Dwire says, “Most single-stream items tend to have some kind of residue—think about jam in a jar.” A less welcome contaminant, she says, can be plastic lids, straws or stirrers. “That is not something that’s acceptable,” even at paper mills willing to screen out the poly coatings, she says.
The ability of mills to accept polymer coatings was part of the focus of the Moore & Associates report. The consulting firm identified 31 North American mils that will accept the cups as a fiber source, with many of those doing so only as a limited-volume blend fraction in mixed paper.
Zeid, a past president of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Paper Stock Industries (PSI) Chapter, lists boxboard mills, tissue mills and mills with dry lap pulping technology as buyers of used cups. Some of these mills, says Zeid, “already accept poly right-side containers, including ice cream containers.” Like Dwire, he says of some mills, “If the cups (cleaned out) are mixed with office paper, they would accept them.”
Dwire says MRF operators putting cups in its mixed paper blend “have to work closely with the mills you ship to.” Even so, she says, “Some MRFs still are scared to try it,” and adds that some “older mills may not want” any cups because their pulping and screening systems are not configured to remove the polymer material.
Research and funding has gone into producing nonplastic or compostable barrier materials. Companies including Miami-based J&J Green Paper and United Kingdom-based Aquapak Polymers have announced new types of barrier products.
As of mid-2022, it remains uncertain whether such efforts will change the end market potential for used paper beverage cups. The Moore & Associates report says these efforts may soon make a difference. “As the use of alternative barrier coatings to polyethylene begins to expand, cups and other poly-coated packaging will eventually become easier for mills to manage. [The] growth of more easily recyclable coatings and cup materials in Europe suggests there is potential for widespread adoption in the long term.”
Even though, in the meantime, the polymer coatings remain a barrier, both the Moore & Associates study (which can be viewed on this web page) and the AF&PA express optimism about the recyclability of the material.
On a web page devoted to the topic, AF&PA answers the question “Are paper cups recyclable?” with an exclamatory “Yes, paper cups are recyclable!” Citing the Moore & Associates study, AF&PA continues, “There are currently 31 mills across North America recycling paper cups. The fiber from those cups is then used to make tissue, paper, containerboard and paperboard.”
The Moore & Associates report summary and outlook section does not include any exclamation marks. However, it does conclude, “In the last two to three years, significant progress has been made in adding cups to residential recycling programs and identifying end markets at mills. This suggests a significant opportunity to continue the expansion of cup recovery through residential recycling programs.”
The company also provided an outlook for the second quarter of 2022.
Waste Connections Inc., Toronto, has released its results for the first quarter of 2022. The company reports a 17.9 percent increase in revenue and a 17.1 percent increase in net income per share.
“We're extremely pleased with our start to the year, particularly given the challenges of record levels of inflation magnified by geopolitical events, ongoing supply chain disruptions and labor constraints as well as the overhang from COVID-related variant impacts,” Worthing F. Jackman, president and CEO of Waste Connections said during a conference call.
Revenue in the first quarter totaled $1.646 billion, up from $1.396 billion in the first quarter of 2021. Operating income was $273.9 million, which included $4.7 million in acquisition-related costs and $1.9 million in impairments and other operating items. This compares with an operating income of $238.4 million in the first quarter of 2021, including $1.5 million in acquisition-related costs. Net income in the first quarter was $180.3 million, or $.69 per share on a diluted basis of 259.6 million shares. In Q1 2021, the company reported a net income of $160.3 million, or $.61 per share on a diluted basis of 263.2 million shares.
Adjusted net income in the first quarter was $213.4 million or 82 cents per diluted share, versus $185.5 million or 70 cents per diluted share, in Q1 2021. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in Q1 was $502.1 million, compared with $433.2 million in Q1 2021. Adjusted net income, adjusted net income per diluted share and adjusted EBITDA, all non-generally accepted accounting principles measures, primarily exclude impairments and acquisition-related items, as reflected in the detailed reconciliations in the attached tables.
“In the first quarter, we delivered solid waste price plus volume growth totaling 7.6 percent,” Jackman says. “The all-in price of 7.1 percent, including about 80 basis points in fuel and material surcharges, marks our highest reported price and ranges from about 4 percent in our most exclusive market Western region, to between 7.5 percent and 8.5 percent in our competitive markets, up 140 basis points sequentially from Q4. Our Q1 pricing was 60 basis points above our outlook and ramp during the quarter as we continue to address the accelerating inflationary headwinds during the period.”
Despite inflation, the company says it achieved underlying margin expansion in solid waste hauling, transfer and disposal. As a result of this, Mary Whitney, the company’s chief financial officer, said the company is well-positioned to meet or exceed our full-year adjusted free cash flow outlook of $1.15 billion provided in February.
The company says it is on track to meet or exceed its full-year adjusted free cash flow outlook of $1.15 billion. The elevated cadence of solid waste acquisition activity has continued with approximately $175 million in annualized revenue year-to-date.
On environmental and production (E&P) waste activity, Waste Connections reported $40.8 million of E&P waste revenue in the first quarter, up 65 percent year-over-year and up 19 percent sequentially from Q4 on a pickup in activity during the quarter from increased drilling as well as remediation jobs primarily in Western Texas.
Looking forward, the company says revenue in Q2 is estimated to be approximately $1.785 billion. This includes solid waste price plus volume growth of 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent.
“Looking ahead to Q2, we expect another sequential increase in both core price and surcharges with all-in price growth exceeding 8 percent,” Jackman said. “Our pricing strength continues to reflect our purposeful approach to addressing the headwinds of inflation and the resilience of our market model, both of which are hallmarks of our strategy.”
Adjusted EBITDA in Q2 is estimated at 31.2 percent of revenue or about $557 million. This reflects an expected 40 basis point margin dilutive impact from acquisitions completed since the prior-year period, implying margins to be flat year-over-year, excluding such impact.
“We believe we are well-positioned for the remainder of 2022 with record solid waste pricing, underlying volume growth, further growth in environmental and production waste and easing cost comparisons,” Jackman said.
The company says the Mack LR Electric, Mack TerraPro and Mack MD7.
Mack Trucks, Greensboro, North Carolina, has announced it would feature the Mack LR Electric refuse vehicle, the diesel-powered Mack TerraPro model and a Mack MD7 medium-duty vehicle in booth 2026 at WasteExpo 2022, May 9-12, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas.
The Mack LR Electric model also will be available for a ride-and-drive opportunity outside of the convention center from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 10 and May 11.
The Mack LR Electric refuse model is Mack’s first fully electric Class Eight zero tailpipe-emissions vehicle. Manufactured at Mack’s Lehigh Valley operations in Macungie, Pennsylvania, the LR Electric offers customers a sustainable option for refuse and recycling collection.
Mack introduced its next-generation Mack LR Electric model in March with improved range and battery capacity. The new Mack LR Electric offers 42 percent more energy and a standard 376-kilowatt (kW) hours for an improved range between charges. Twin electric motors with 448 continuous horsepower and a 4,051 pound per foot of peak torque output from zero RPM power the vehicle.
The vehicle is powered by four nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) oxide lithium-ion batteries, charged through a 150 kW, SAE J1772-compliant charging system, propels the vehicle and provides power for all onboard accessories through 12-volt, 24-volt and 600-volt circuits. The two-stage regenerative braking system helps recapture energy from the hundreds of stops the vehicle makes each day with an increasing load.
The Mack TerraPro cabover model is a diesel option the company says can withstand the demands of a refuse application. The TerraPro is available with the Mack MP7 and MP8 engine and the Mack mDRIVE automated manual transmission. Now standard with Mack GuardDog Connect, Mack’s integrated telematics solution, the TerraPro model can be configured for many applications, such as refuse, dump, mixer or concrete pump.
The Mack MD7 model, part of the Mack MD Series, which includes the Class Six MD6, meets a wide variety of needs for medium-duty trucking applications. This includes refuse, dry van/refrigerated, stake/flatbed, dump and tank vocations. The MD7 has a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of 33,000 pounds. Both the MD6 and MD7 are exempt from the 12 percent federal excise tax.
The MD Series is available in 4x2 configurations and features a sharp wheel cut for increased maneuverability in urban environments. The MD Series can design has a bumper-to-back-of-cab measurement of 103 inches
The Mack LR Electric, Mack TerraPro and MD7 are supported by Mack’s dealer network. For more information about the Mack LR Electric, TerraPro or MD7 model, visit Mack booth 2026 at WasteExpo, contact your local Mack dealer or click here.
The M&J F-series will be M&J Recycling’s main attraction and can be viewed in the West Hall, booth 2468.
M&J Recycling, Horsens, Denmark, has announced it will showcase a series of new products at this year’s WasteExpo in Las Vegas, May 9-12. In particular, the company will display its F-series fine-shredders.
The M&J F-series, which will be M&J Recycling’s main attraction, can be viewed in the West Hall, booth 2468. The series consists of three models including M&J F140, M&J F210 and M&J F320, which have been designed to deliver a stable, high output of alternative fuels like refuse-derived and solid-recovered fuel, down to 10 millimeters. The company says the models in this series can be adapted to virtually all fractions and capacity requirements between 11 and 23 tons per hour. The company says the shredder keeps energy and operating costs at a minimum.
A key focus during the design process was an absolute mandate to minimize service requirements and maintenance programs. Easy access to spare parts ensures that the maintenance of machines is efficient and user-friendly for the end-user.
“The F-series of ultra-strong fine shredders is in a league of its own,” says Uffe Hansen, CEO at M&J Recycling. “The series deservedly got off to a flying start globally because it is extremely flexible and superior on all significant parameters. It will surely appeal to the quality-conscious M&J customer that is accustomed to the legendary quality that comes along with an M&J preshredder. You get reliable production, year after year at minimum cost.”
M&J Recycling says it is poised to accelerate its development due to new owners, Ahlstrom Capital. The company says the goal is to expand its position as a leading supplier of industrial shredders.
Visitors to the WasteExpo also can find out more about the flexible K-series, which is aimed at small and medium-scale productions.
The U.S. Department of Energy says funds from the infrastructure bill will support the creation of new and expanded commercial facilities and battery recycling.
The administration says the investments also will support the creation of new, retrofitted and expanded commercial facilities as well as manufacturing demonstrations and battery recycling. A separate $60 million in funding also was announced as an investment in supporting second-life applications for batteries previously used to power electric vehicles (EVs) as well as new processes for recycling materials back into the battery supply chain.
In February of last year, the DOE issued a 100-day review of the large-capacity battery supply chain and recommended establishing domestic production and processing capabilities for critical materials to support a fully domestic end-to-end battery supply chain. It also recommended investments in battery recycling and the circular economy to increase domestic supply and reduce the future need for new extraction and raw materials.
“Positioning the United States front and center in meeting the growing demand for advanced batteries is how we boost our competitiveness and electrify our transportation system,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm says about the announced funding. “President Biden’s historic investment in battery production and recycling will give our domestic supply chain the jolt it needs to become more secure and less reliant on other nations—strengthening our clean energy economy, creating good-playing jobs and decarbonizing the transportation sector.”
The Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB), led by the DOE as well as the Departments of Defense, Commerce and State, issued an executive summary in June of last year, “National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries 2021-2030,” outlining a national blueprint to guide investments in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. The report also notes the global lithium-ion battery market is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade and that the DOE is working with the industry to prepare the U.S. for increased market demand.
According to a news release from the DOE, more than 2.5 million plug-in EVs have been sold in the U.S. as of March. The DOE also says battery costs have fallen more than 90 percent since 2008 while energy density and performance have rapidly increased, paving the way for an accelerated transition to zero-emission vehicles.
The DOE says these most recent investments into what it calls responsible and sustainable domestic sourcing of critical materials used to make lithium-ion batteries—such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite—will help avoid or mitigate supply-chain disruptions and accelerate battery production in the U.S. to meet demand and support the adoption of EVs.
Focusing on domestic sourcing and production was a key component of the DOE’s recently announced funding, with the FCAB’s June 2021 blueprint saying, “The U.S. industrial base must be positioned to respond to this vast increase in market demand that otherwise will likely benefit well-resourced and supported competitors in Asia and Europe.”
“For too long, other countries have been outpacing the United States in funding new technologies,” says Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. “We are at a critical moment in our competition to build the next generation of electric vehicles and batteries here in America and to secure Michigan’s automotive leadership in these next-generation vehicles.”
She continues, “Thanks to our bipartisan efforts in Congress and with the president’s leadership, this funding will help us win this race by investing in our supply chain and manufacturing here at home. Our workers are the best in the world, and there’s nothing more American than ensuring that our products and technology are built in America.”
The DOE says that in alignment with the Justice40 initiative—establishing a goal that 40 percent of the benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy flow to disadvantaged communities—applicants for new funding opportunities will be prompted to consider how project benefits can flow to relevant disadvantaged communities. The DOE’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity reiterated this mandate as a priority for the Biden administration.