The company announced the expansion in July of last year and says its mailers can be deposited in any paper or corrugated collection point.
Packaging producer Georgia-Pacific, based in Atlanta, has announced the official opening of two new facilities in McDonough, Georgia, and Jonestown, Pennsylvania, that will produce recyclable paper padded mailers. The company says it has expanded its recyclable mailer production by 350 percent with the opening of the facilities as well as the added manufacturing capacity of a third production line at its Phoenix-area plant to address growing demand for sustainable e-commerce packaging options.
According to Georgia-Pacific, it has been supplying its recyclable mailers to Amazon since 2020 with the opening of its Phoenix plant and now will have sufficient capacity to serve additional customers looking for an alternative to plastic mailers or boxes.
“We are excited about the opportunity to supply additional customers with a cost-competitive, sustainable packaging option,” says Adam Ganz, vice president — commercial development at Georgia-Pacific, who also leads the mailer business. “Consumer demand for sustainable packaging continues to grow and brands and retailers are looking for ways to meet that demand without sacrificing strength and performance.”
Georgia-Pacific says its mailer combines a unique expansive material between layers of kraft paper and meets the requirements of SFI Certified Sourcing. The cushioning material protects the package contents throughout the journey from warehouse to consumer and comes in four sizes with external dimensions ranging from 7-by-9 inches to 14-by-18 inches.
Amazon originally introduced the padded mailer in 2019 using Epix technology from Henkel Adhesives Technologies to meet demand for what Georgia-Pacific says was a cost-competitive and protective mailer made from a renewable resource that can be recycled with other paper-based curbside recyclables. The mailer also has received a Widely Recyclable label from How2Recycle based on lab tests at a recycled fiber mill to determine its recyclability, which means it can be deposited in any paper or corrugated collection point which for most consumers is a curbside recycling bin.
Georgia-Pacific originally announced the added manufacturing capacity in July of last year with Ganz noting the positive response to the functionality and recyclability from Amazon and other consumers, saying, “This investment demonstrates our commitment to increasing sustainable solutions for the rapidly growing e-commerce segment.”
The company says the machine combines the advantages of telescopic handler and wheel loader.
Sennebogen, Straubing, Germany, is expanding its multiline product line with its second model, the 3.40 G.
According to a news release from Sennebogen, the little brother of the established 355 E has now been developed as an addition to the multiline portfolio for use as a telescopic handler and as a multifunctional machine. The machine has compact dimensions of 18 feet in length and just under 8 feet in width. The stacking height of the telescopic boom is 25 feet. The machine offers unique stability with a long wheelbase of 10 feet and a low center of gravity of the entire machine at an operating weight of 9.3 tons.
Throughout the design and construction of all components, the company says special attention was paid to the requirements of multishift operations in tough material handling. A high-strength, solid steel frame and sophisticated design of the telescopic boom ensure that the forces occurring in loading operation are optimally absorbed by the body. This ensures the reliability and durability of the machine, even in demanding continuous operation, Sennebogen says.
The telescopic handler is equipped with a 100-kilowatt diesel engine in emissions category V and can reach speeds of up to 24 miles per hour with its stepless traction drive, according to the manufacturer. The operator can choose from two further modes in addition to road mode, stacker mode and loading mode.
In the 4-ton class, the Sennebogen 3.40 G is aimed at customers with demanding material handling tasks, such as recyclers. It is also aimed at sectors like biogas plants or contractors in agriculture and municipal services. It can be equipped with a variety of attachments, from buckets to sweeping brushes and snow blades. The machine's infinitely variable travel drive with Compact Drive transmission ensures fast driving or high torque with traction and thrust, depending on requirements.
The company says the 3.40 G can be configured to suit almost any requirement. A wide variety of optional equipment is available, ranging from the automatic central lubrication system for optimal serviceability to the compressed-air brake system for trailer operation or tire variants, depending on the area of application.
The company pledges to invest up to $5 million per project.
New York City-based Closed Loop Partners, through its Closed Loop Infrastructure Group, has pledged support to Resource Recycling Systems’ (RRS’) NextCycle initiative, working collaboratively with Colorado, Michigan and Washington, the states that currently are participating in NextCycle, to identify opportunities to provide competitively priced and flexible financing of up to $5 million per project. NextCycle is a customizable accelerator-style program that facilitates the creation of circular economies.
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based RRS manages and facilitates NextCycle. Selected teams in the NextCycle initiative receive access to business, industry and investment experts to develop project plans, make connections with partners and funders and cultivate investment-ready and implementation-ready projects.
“For a circular economy to be robust and economically sustainable it needs a continuous flow of recycled materials, a viable recycling infrastructure, and accessible end markets,” says Jim Frey, RRS co-founder and CEO. “By leveraging state funds and accelerating the flow of private and nonprofit capital into projects focused on infrastructure, technology and supply chains, we can help mobilize recycling efforts in NextCycle states.”
Through NextCycle, Colorado, Michigan and Washington will identify projects that develop recovery infrastructure solutions for postconsumer recyclables with a focus on polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, and aluminum, optimize innovative collection systems for polyethylene and polypropylene and divert from landfill back into the supply chain. Over the next three years of partnership, Closed Loop Partners will collaborate with the various NextCycle initiatives, identifying investable opportunities that advance collective circularity goals, according to a news release issued by RRS.
Jennifer Louie, executive director at Closed Loop Partners, says, “Building a robust circular economy requires multiple stakeholders to be at the table. Closed Loop Partners is thrilled to collaborate with RRS and NextCycle to help identify and accelerate the most promising solutions. This partnership will continue to drive innovation and develop equitable local economies while keeping valuable materials in play and out of landfills.”
Closed Loop Partners has an existing portfolio of more than 50 investments that have collectively diverted more than 4,600 million pounds of material from landfills into manufacturing supply chains. The firm’s Closed Loop Infrastructure Group deploys capital across a range of circular economy projects, companies, infrastructure and enabling technologies.
Today, the company employs more than 900 people at 12 subsidiaries on six continents.
Eriez’s story began in 1942 when the company’s founder O.F. Merwin installed a permanent magnet in a grain mill. Eighty years later, the magnetic separation, flotation, metal detection and material handling equipment technology company has a workforce of more than 900 people at 12 wholly owned international subsidiaries on six continents, is a world leader.
Eriez serves the mining, processing, packaging, food, recycling, aggregate and metalworking industries. The company says its process engineers and scientists have developed innovations in the areas of rare earth magnets, superconducting technology, flotation, vibratory feeders, metal detection, auto scrap recycling equipment, suspended electromagnets, eddy current separation and proprietary manufacturing techniques.
Eriez remains a family company, with O.F. Merwin’s grandson Richard Merwin serving as chairman. Richard Merwin’s late father, Bob Merwin, had a global vision for Eriez and took the company into international markets in the 1950s.
Richard Merwin says, “Our board of directors, past and present, has embraced and supported deliberate and bold ongoing initiatives for global strategic growth. Their consistent, sound and ethical guidance is a major factor in Eriez’s continuing success.”
Eriez President and CEO Lukas Guenthardt adds, “We are lucky to have ownership and a board of directors who value long-term investments and profitable growth over short-term profits. We have worked hard at building and maintaining loyal customers that value the quality and trust the reliability of our products and services. With a focus on continuous product advancement and market expansion, both domestically and overseas, Eriez is poised to thrive for years to come.”
While product innovation has contributed to Eriez’s position as a global leader, the company’s management asserts that it is the company’s employees who really make the difference. “The integrity, commitment, responsiveness and unmatched customer service provided by our outstanding staff is what truly keeps us on the leading-edge,” Guenthardt says.
Eriez employees give generously of their financial resources, time and talents to philanthropic causes. “As a corporation and as individuals, we are dedicated to making a lasting, positive impact on the well-being of the communities where we live and work. We believe this approach produces an atmosphere where businesses and communities can collaborate and prosper,” he adds.
The company’s network of longtime sales representatives also has played a significant role in the company’s history and success, according to the company’s leaders, as has its focus on marketing communications. “We put a strong emphasis on sustaining maximum customer engagement,” says Eriez Senior Director of Global Marketing and Brand Management John Blicha. “We believe in making significant investments, both in terms of time and finances, to advertising, branding, public relations, trade shows, digital marketing and customer education.”
Blicha says Eriez has special events planned throughout the course of 2022 to commemorate this milestone anniversary and recognize customers and employees for their loyalty and partnership.
The association’s Steve Alexander says claims regarding the additives’ recyclability are “unfounded, untested and possibly misleading as outlined by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guide.”
Steve Alexander, president and CEO of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Washington, has issued a statement regarding the potential effects of degradable additives on mechanical recycling of postconsumer plastics.
The statement reads in part, “Claims regarding the recyclability of degradable additives are unfounded, untested and possibly misleading as outlined by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Green Guide. No third-party testing data has confirmed these recyclability claims. APR urges companies making such claims to share their supporting data with the recycling community.”
Alexandar says the APR is worried that the additives could negatively affect mechanical recycling of postconsumer plastics by compromising “the integrity or useful life of plastic packaging or durable products made from recycled resins that contain these additives.”
He continues, “The use of such degradable additives in packaging may render the packaging nonrecyclable because they lower the functionality and sustainability of recycled postconsumer plastics when included with recyclable plastics. Because degradable additives contaminate the plastics recycling stream, they must be kept isolated from recyclable packaging.”
Alexander adds, “The degradation of otherwise recycled plastics means lost opportunities for the repeated use of molecules through recycling, which according to the 2018 Life Cycle Inventory Analysis of Recycled Plastics, has less environmental impact than single use of molecules.”
His statement concludes, “Although APR has provided test protocols for time-dependent degradation for over 10 years, due to the concern and risks involved, APR does not consider items containing degradable additives eligible for APR Design Recognition Programs. It is also illegal in Alabama, California and North Carolina to label a plastic product both ‘degradable and recyclable.’”
Recently, a U.K.-based tech startup, Polymateria, says it found a way to alter the properties of plastic to make it biodegradable and recyclable at the same time with the use of a proprietary additive.
The U.S. Plastics Pact also has identified oxo-degradable additives, including oxo-biodegradable additives, on its Problematic and Unnecessary Materials List, saying these items "are not currently reusable, recyclable or compostable at scale in the U.S. and are not projected to be kept in a closed loop in practice and at scale by 2025."