Evergreen to install AI- Enabled sorting robotics in Third recycling Rpet manufacturing Plant

 Evergreen, one of North America’s three largest producers of food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), has just announced that it will be installing artificial intelligence-enabled bottle sorting robotics at its Albany, New York plastics recycling and rPET manufacturing facility. When the installation is completed in mid-2022, Evergreen will have deployed 15 high-speed, highly accurate robotic lines at three of its United States locations.

Supplying the robotics sorting lines to Albany is AMP Robotics Corp., a pioneer in artificial intelligence (AI) robotics and infrastructure for the waste industry. AMP installed the AI-enabled robotic sorting lines in Evergreen Clyde in April 2021 and Evergreen Riverside in August 2021.

Evergreen President and CEO Omar Abuaita say replacing previously manual sorting processes with high-tech robotics is part of a strategic vision to transform not just his company, but the overall plastics recycling industry. “With demand for recycled PET (rPET) at the highest levels in history, we simply can’t rely on outdated ways of doing business. Evergreen is playing for keeps. Automating our sorting lines allows us to support ever-larger PET recycling streams, provide the millions of pounds of food-grade rPET our customers have committed to purchasing, and achieve a safer, more efficient work environment for our team.”

Last month Abuaita revealed that Evergreen, a portfolio company of private equity firm the Sterling Group, has invested more than $200 million in modernization, capacity expansion, and acquisitions over the last 12 months. The AMP robotics is part of that investment.

Evergreen currently recycles more than 11.6 billion post-consumer PET bottles a year, up from 2 billion in 2021. General Manager Greg Johnson, who is speaking at the Plastics Recycling Conference on Private Equity’s Impact on Recycling, says the AI-enabled sorting lines are an absolute necessity to increase both the speed and accuracy of sorting the monumental volume of bottles Evergreen processes.

“With the use of AI-powered robotics, we can identify and pick more contaminants from the stream, leaving high quality clear and green PET bottles to be recycled. The consistency and reliability of robots have revolutionized our processes. Our goal is to capture all bottles we can use in our food-grade rPET pellet.”

Evergreen’s annual capacity of food-grade rPET is 147 million pounds, up from 40 million pounds just one year ago.

When the company’s expansion at Evergreen Clyde is completed in mid-2022, its annual rPET capacity will swell to 217 million pounds.

#artificalintelligence #sortingrobotics #evergreenclyde #AI-powered

 www.Evergreentogether.com.

ReVive Compatibilizer from Ampacet Receives How2Recycle Prequalification for Store Drop-Off Labeling

ReVive 311A Compatibilizer, a blend of functional additives from global masterbatch leader Ampacet has received How2Recycle Prequalification status for Store Drop-Off in eligible multi-layer PE film structures from the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC).  The rigorous prequalification process included third-party testing at Plastics Forming Enterprises (PFE), which resulted in the Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR) Critical Guidance Recognition (CGR), recognizing significant new technologies that solve long-standing problems in sustainable package design.

ReVive, part of Ampacet’s R3 Sustainable Solutions product line can potentially be used to create Store Drop-Off recycle-ready multi-layer barrier films containing PA6 and/or EVOH. Post-industrial and post-consumer barrier films made with ReVive also can be reprocessed back into the polyolefin recycling stream and used for film production or other downstream plastics processing.

“ReVive offers the best of all possible worlds in food packaging,” says Doreen Becker, Ampacet Sustainability Director. “Although multi-layer barrier films (EVOH/PA6) have not been recyclable, they are superior to mono-material PE films in preserving food freshness and preventing food waste. Adding ReVive Compatibilizer means that processors can boost the use of PCR/PIR to meet sustainability goals and CPG companies can offer packaged foods with superior food preservation as well as good recyclability. The end result benefits consumers and the planet.”

“ReVive’s How2Recycle Prequalification for Store Drop-Off allows us to show CPG brands how they can use the How2Recycle standardized labeling system in their packaging to achieve circular economy goals and help encourage consumers to recycle as well,” adds Becker.

How2Recycle labeling for Store Drop-Off allows consumers to recycle eligible packaging at many area grocery stores and big-box retail locations.

How2Recycle Prequalification for Store Drop-Off confirms that multi-layer barrier films containing the appropriate combination of EVOH and/or PA6 with the correct loading of ReVive 311A may be eligible for How2Recycle Labeling for Store Drop-Off.

How2Recycle prequalification is not the final designation of the label that a brand will ultimately feature on the package (final designation can change based on product application, attachments, and more) but allows companies to design packaging and purchase materials with recyclability in mind. How2Recycle is the first standardized label system that allows companies to accurately track and measure the recyclability of packaging materials and products.

 The on-package labeling was created to provide consistent and transparent recycling information for consumers in the US and Canada. ReVive 311A, when used with EVOH (32 mol%) and/or PA6 nylon barrier layers in PE films, has been recognized by the Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR) as meeting or exceeding the strictest requirements for Critical Guidance Protocol for PE Film and Flexible Packaging. This APR recognition is based on the technical recyclability of 20% and less EVOH with ReVive 311A at a 1:5 ratio of ReVive to EVOH, 15% and less PA6 with 2.25% ReVive 311A and 10% PA6 plus 5% EVOH or less with 2.5% ReVive 311A in a multi-layer film structure of PE films.

“Ampacet ReVive maintains good flow properties at the recommended letdown ratios, among the lowest in the market, and can generally be added to the PE bulk layers as a drop-in as validated in testing by leading industry partners,” says Jim Morrison, Ampacet Strategic Business Manager, Flexible Packaging. “We are proud to be supporting the industry’s drive toward creating new opportunities for plastics circularity,” he added.

#Revive311ACompatibilizer #ampacet #sustainblepackingcolitation

https://www.ampacet.com/

Nations commit to develop a legal binding agreement

Heads of State, Ministers of environment, and other representatives from 175 nations endorsed a historic resolution at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) today in Nairobi to End Plastic Pollution and forge an international legally binding agreement by 2024. The resolution addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal.

“Against the backdrop of geopolitical turmoil, the UN Environment Assembly shows multilateral cooperation at its best,” said the President of UNEA-5 and Norway’s Minister for Climate and the Environment, Espen Barth Eide. “Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic. With today’s resolution, we are officially on track for a cure.” 

The resolution, based on three initial draft resolutions from various nations, establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), which will begin its work in 2022, with the ambition of completing a draft global legally binding agreement by the end of 2024.

It is expected to present a legally binding instrument, which would reflect diverse alternatives to address the full lifecycle of plastics, the design of reusable and recyclable products and materials, and the need for enhanced international collaboration to facilitate access to technology, capacity building, and scientific and technical cooperation.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will convene a forum by the end of 2022 that is open to all stakeholders in conjunction with the first session of the INC, to share knowledge and best practices in different parts of the world. It will facilitate open discussions and ensure they are informed by science, reporting on progress throughout the next two years. Finally, upon completion of the INC’s work, UNEP will convene a diplomatic conference to adopt its outcome and open it for signatures.

“Today marks a triumph by planet earth over single-use plastics. This is the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord. It is an insurance policy for this generation and future ones, so they may live with plastic and not be doomed by it.” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

“Let it be clear that the INC’s mandate does not grant any stakeholder a two-year pause. In parallel to negotiations over an internationally binding agreement, UNEP will work with any willing government and business across the value chain to shift away from single-use plastics, as well as to mobilize private finance and remove barriers to investments in research and in a new circular economy,” Andersen added.

Plastic production soared from 2 million tonnes in 1950 to 348 million tonnes in 2017, becoming a global industry valued at US$522.6 billion, and it is expected to double in capacity by 2040. The impacts of plastic production and pollution on the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss, and pollution are a catastrophe in the making:

• Exposure to plastics can harm human health, potentially affecting fertility, hormonal, metabolic, and neurological activity, and the open burning of plastics contributes to air pollution.
• By 2050 greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic production, use and disposal would account for 15 percent of allowed emissions, under the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C (34.7°F).
• More than 800 marine and coastal species are affected by this pollution through ingestion, entanglement, and other dangers.
• Some 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flow annually into oceans. This may triple by 2040.
• A shift to a circular economy can reduce the volume of plastics entering oceans by over 80 percent by 2040; reduce virgin plastic production by 55 percent; save governments US$70 billion by 2040; reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent, and create 700,000 additional jobs – mainly in the global south.

The historic resolution, titled “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument” was adopted with the conclusion of the three-day UNEA-5.2 meeting, attended by more than 3,400 in-person and 1,500 online participants from 175 UN Member States, including 79 ministers and 17 high-level officials.

#UN Enivornment assembly #UN MEMBER  #Lifecycleplastic 

https://www.unep.org/

Box Genie Introduces Highcon to Support its Growing E-Commerce Platform for Corrugated Packaging

Box Genie, an on-demand e-commerce platform for corrugated packaging, has begun full production on the Highcon Euclid 5C digital converting system. The Highcon Euclid is installed at the Box Genie’s facility in Kansas City, MO to support a digital workflow from print to finished product. After less than two weeks following installation, Box Genie has already started full production.

Box Genie, founded by a third-generation family-owned packaging manufacturer, began production in 2021 as an e-commerce packaging provider specializing in corrugated packaging for small to medium size businesses. The company specializes in custom mailer boxes of varying shapes, colors, sizes, and designs. Box Genie chose Highcon for its ability to reduce tooling costs and shorten lead times without sacrificing quality.

“Box Genie was particularly interested in shortening lead-times to better serve small-to-mid-size orders and meet our customers’ needs for custom boxes,” said James Beard, COO Box Genie.” Highcon digital finishing allows us to increase throughput and cutting capacity as well as the ability to run custom boxes and displays and gang multiple jobs to improve efficiency.”

In addition to expanding its capacity, Beard said that Box Genie expects to be able to go after new business as a result of the purchase. “We bought the Highcon because we wanted more capacity and shorter lead times,” he added. “We were very pleased with the Highcon installation process and the dedicated onboard and training staff.”

Highcon General Manager and VP Sales, Americas, Michael Ciaramella, said “It is our pleasure to welcome Box Genie to the ranks of our innovative customers, many of whom are experiencing the benefits of adding Highcon digital converting to their production capabilities.

Streamlining the workflow and optimizing production with an end-to-end digital manufacturing process helps our clients stay ahead of the competition while adding incremental value to their customers. Box Genie is joining a growing group of customers that are leading the Web to Pack market transformation.”

#Highcon #ecommerce #support #Corrugated Packaging

https://www.highcon.net/