SPE Names Winners of GPEC® 2013 Environmental Stewardship Awards.
Press Release Summary:
Hilex Poly Co. LLC and MCS Industries, Inc. earned Plastic Recycling Technologies and Applications Awards, while Interfacial Solutions took Plastics From Renewables Award. Design for Sustainability Award was claimed by Avery Dennison, and Chairman's Award went to Infiltrator Systems Inc. Mondelez International, Inc. and General Motors were honored with Daniel Eberhardt Environmental Stewardship Award for involvement with plastics and contributions to improving environment.
Original Press Release:
SPE Names Recipients of GPEC® 2013 Environmental Awards
GPEC® 2013 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AWARDS
Awards Criteria:
1. Involves plastics.
2. Contributes to environmental improvement.
3. Commercially adopted or accepted in 2012.
4. Promotes leadership in environmental areas.
5. Contribution is verifiable.
6. Facilitates an innovation, standard, regulation, etc.
7. Demonstrates leadership in the specific area – Technology, Marketing, Legislation, Education, Community, etc.
8. Demonstrates creativity and originality.
9. Has significant impact, showing value for its intended purpose.
PLASTIC RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS AWARDS
Hilex Poly Co. LLC, the largest manufacturer of plastic carryout bags in North America, has invested significantly in the optimal sustainable solution for plastic bags and films by creating and operating the largest closed loop recycling plant in its industry. Utilizing reverse logistics, the company recovers HDPE, LDPE, and LLDPE plastics returned by consumers, and cleans and recycles the product back into raw material used for manufacturing new bags. The program is named Bag-2-Bag. Compared to conventional plastic bags, the Bag-2-Bag product requires less energy, lowers carbon emissions, and diverts over 20,000,000 lb. (9,090 metric tons) from landfills each year. The company can be contacted at 101 E. Carolina Avenue Hartsville, SC 29550, USA. Contact: Mike Sullivan, Director of Sustainability & NPD. Phone: (314)-537-6052. Fax: (314)-423-7251. E-mail mike.sullivan@hilexpoly.com
MCS Industries, Inc. converts often difficult to recycle, post-consumer scrap materials such as expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam packaging and large printer cartridges into designer picture frames. MCS has developed an innovative process to make use of materials that would otherwise end up in landfill. The company can be contacted at 2280 Newlins Mill Road, Easton, PA 18045 USA. Contact: Dallas Kohler, Director of Engineering. Phone: 610-253-6268. E-mail: dkohler@mcsframe.com.
PLASTICS FROM RENEWABLES AWARD
Interfacial Solutions has developed hyper-branching technology that has been shown to effectively counteract any foreseeable issues with molecular weight loss due to the hydrolytic degradation of polylactic acid (PLA) during melt processing. This permits, for the first time, the possibility of repeated melt processing without pre-drying. Since Interfacial Solutions has demonstrated the efficacy of this technology for a wide variety of pre- and post-industrial PLA waste streams (8 different examples cited), this technology is positioned as more-or-less universally applicable for PLA recovery regardless of origin. The company can be contacted at 949 Antler Court, River Falls, WI 54022 USA. Contact: Dr. Adam R. Pawloski, Ph.D.,Technical Director. Phone: (715) 425-7957 (x230). E-mail: arpawloski@interfacialsolutions.com.
DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Avery Dennison designed its Bottle-to-Bottle Portfolio for PET Recyclability as a solution to address the impact of labels on PET bottle recyclability. These newly developed pressure sensitive adhesive label products can help brands adhere to design for recycling guidelines so that their PET bottles can be easily collected and do not contribute to contamination and yield loss of the RPET supply. These new labels have been endorsed by major organizations such as APR and NAPCOR. The company can be contacted at Charles D. Miller Corporate Center, 150 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91103-3596 USA. Contact: Rosalyn Bandy. Phone: 440-534-6659. E-mail: Rosalyn.bandy@averydennison.com.
CHAIRMAN’S AWARD
Infiltrator Systems Inc. carries out large scale recycling of waste plastics for innovative soil and water purification applications. It is a company in which technology complements nature's own processes for recycling wastewater. Infiltrator products and services improve the performance of onsite systems by delivering greater infiltrative capacity, ensuring higher quality installations and making more efficient use of space. Every day Infiltrator processes postconsumer and post-industrial plastics and other commodities to manufacture their product, which puts over 150 million pounds of recycled plastics and polymers into better, environmentallyfriendly uses every year. The company can be contacted at 4 Business Park Road P.O. Box 768, Old Saybrook, Connecticut 06475 USA. Contact: Dave Smith, Director of Quality and Procurement. Phone: 859-745-6747. E-mail: dsmith@infiltratorsystems.net.
DANIEL EBERHARDT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AWARDS
The ‘Daniel Eberhardt Environmental Stewardship Award’ is presented to a company involved with plastics that has made outstanding contributions to the improvement of the environment. Recipients must have shown special leadership in various aspects of sustainability, not only through technical contributions, but also through community involvement, education, or promotion, and have made a total commitment to environmental enhancement. This year there are two recipients of the Daniel Eberhardt Award.
Mondelez International, Inc. is the world’s largest chocolate, biscuit, candy and powdered beverage company and the second-largest in coffee and gum. Launched on Oct. 1, 2012, with approximate annual revenue of $36 billion and employing around 100,000 people around the world, Mondelez International comprises the global snacking and food brands of the former Kraft Foods Inc. Since 2010, measured against total production, Mondelez has cut packaging by 45,000,000 lb. (20,500 metric tons), increased sustainable sourcing of agricultural commodities by 36%, eliminated about 20 million kilometers of travel miles, cut energy by 3%, CO2 emissions by 6%, water use by 3% and manufacturing waste by 18%. The company can be contacted at Three Parkway North, Ste. 300, Deerfield, IL 60015 USA. Contact: Richard Buino, Corporate Communications Coordinator. Phone: 847-943-4388. E-mail: Richard.buino@mdlz.com.
General Motors is committed to continuously reducing the environmental impact of its vehicles and facilities. Currently, the company recycles 90 percent of its global manufacturing waste and has 103 landfill-free facilities, with a goal to increase that number to 125 sites by 2020. This effort has also helped generate an estimated $1 billion in reuse and recycling revenue from its byproducts, and eliminate 10 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2011. GM utilizes a number of strategies, including innovative data collection and ongoing monitoring systems, employee and external engagement initiatives, and creative recycling and reuse projects as part of the landfill-free program. Among unusual examples of recycling are donating scrap polypropylene sound absorption vehicle material to insulate coats for the homeless and converting scrap Chevrolet Volt battery covers into nesting boxes. The company can be contacted at PO Box 33170, Detroit MI 48232 USA. Contact: Sharon Basel. Phone: 313-378-6647. E-mail: Sharon.basel@gm.com.
