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FEATURES AVONDALE ESTATES LAUNCHES ONE-OF-A-KIND RECYCLING PROGRAM
BY MICHELLE HISKEY
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The city of Avondale Estates is a small town tackling a global problem.
Partnering with manufacturing giant SC Johnson, Avondale Estates is the first American city to supply a leading international company with the material used to create recycled, food-grade plastic products.
Through April 2022, residents collected 1,280 pounds of plastic film that are being converted by Atlanta-based Nexus Circular into liquids that are used to create virgin-quality recycled plastics.
FIRST OF ITS KIND
AVONDALE ESTATES’ ONE-YEAR PILOT PROGRAM, which began in November 2021 as the first in Georgia, is part of a larger effort by SC Johnson to reduce plastic waste. Thus far across the country, the programs have collectively prevented more than 7,000 pounds of plastic film from ending up in local landfills.
“Plastic waste is one of the great environmental challenges we face today, and Avondale Estates is showing American cities what successful recycling of plastic film can look like at a city level,” said Alan VanderMolen, senior vice president and chief communications officer at SC Johnson. “We couldn’t be happier to partner with the dedicated residents of Avondale Estates and take a step toward the vision for a wastefree world.” Residents use dedicated “Plastic Film Only” recycling bins to collect clean, dry plastic bags; plastic storage bags such as Ziploc bags; dry cleaning bags; and other flexible plastic film. Historically, plastic films are considered too difficult to recycle and often end up in the trash. However, when properly sorted, plastic film can be recycled and provide manufacturers a way to make brand new products from recycled materials.
The Avondale Estates program is the first of its kind among municipal governments, partnering with the private sector to turn these hard-to-recycle films into components used to create high-quality recycled plastic. In Avondale Estates, residents embraced this opportunity from the get-go. After the first 500 plastic film bins ran out, another 250 were ordered. By the second collection day, the amount of plastic film collected doubled. At last count, 640 households (41% of those that have residential sanitation pickup) are participating.
“The residents of Avondale Estates have always taken recycling seriously, and this recognition confirms the city’s commitment to sustainability efforts,” said City Manager Patrick Bryant. “Our residents really care about the environment. It’s no surprise that we were the first city in Georgia to partner with SC Johnson for this pilot program. Hopefully our efforts in Avondale Estates will inspire other communities to participate in recycling plastic film.”
MOST CITIES DO NOT RECYCLE PLASTIC FILM, which makes items like plastic bags a leading contaminant of curbside recycling. Partnering with Avondale Estates was a new step for Nexus Circular. Typically, Nexus partners with major companies to help them achieve their sustainability goals through advanced recycling.
Plastic film picked up curbside the first Wednesday of the month in Avondale Estates is transported 18 miles west to the Nexus commercial plant. On a recent facility tour, city representatives watched Nexus handlers work with collected plastic film. Nexus also accepts a wide range of plastics forms and types to feed its commercial-scale operation, including unique ones like bubble wrap, scraps from disposable diaper manufacturing, used buckets from various uses; items typically deemed hard to recycle due to form, contaminants or their negative impact on traditional sorting operations.
The visitors from Avondale Estates learned how Nexus converts used plastic back into its molecular building blocks known as circular feedstocks. These feedstocks are then used to produce different types of plastics. Because the process occurs at the molecular level, the plastic does not deteriorate and can be recycled over and over again. Nexus has diverted the equivalent of more than five million pounds of used plastics that would have otherwise ended up in landfills. The plastic film recycling process is a closed loop, is environmentally friendly and has a minimal footprint.
“Avondale Estates’ plastic film recycling shows how Nexus closes the loop on plastic recycling,” said Nexus Circular Founder, COO and CTO Jeff Gold.
Nexus is ramping up production for clients worldwide who seek recycled content that can be used to produce new sustainable plastics.
“In response to the worldwide need for recycled plastic driven by companies responding to consumer demand, Nexus Circular has an ambitious goal of diverting more than one billion pounds of used plastic from landfill by 2030, converting it into high-quality feedstocks to meet its partners’ sustainability commitments and scalable,” said Eric Hartz, president and co-founder of Nexus. “We celebrate Avondale Estates for stepping up as our first municipal partner, which along with support from SC Johnson, demonstrates what can happen locally when people make a community effort to collect materials like plastic film. We couldn’t make the kind of progress that is needed without people like those in Avondale Estates caring like they do. We hope this program is the first of many and an example of what’s possible.”
CLOSING THE LOOP ON PLASTIC RECYCLING
