Avery Dennison will identify converters and brands using film liners and work with Mitsubishi to recycle this material.

Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials, Mentor, Ohio, says it has taken a major step in advancing material circularity across the industry with an exclusive agreement with Mitsubishi Chemical Group’s polyester film division in North America. Through the agreement, Mitsubishi will offer a closed-loop process for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) liner recycling, helping to increase the recycled content in PET liners supplied to Avery Dennison and the industry.   

“This program is not only a significant milestone in realizing our goal of diverting waste away from landfills, but it represents a giant step forward for the entire industry,” says Jeroen Diderich, senior vice president and general manager of Avery Dennison Label and Graphic Materials North America. “We are thrilled to have an opportunity for liner circularity and to help meet the recycled content goals for converters, brands and label manufacturers.”   

According to a news release, Avery Dennison will identify converters and brands using film liners, working to collect this material for recycling at Mitsubishi. The recycled content will be added to the film liner manufactured, moving toward circularity and helping to meet the growing demand for film liners with recycled content.  

The content is supplied by Mitsubishi through its Reprocess technology, which collects spent liner material from the pressure-sensitive label and liner customers and downstream users. The company says it can reprocess the waste liner stream into first-quality release liners with up to 25 percent postindustrial recycled material.  

“We are excited to work with Avery Dennison in advancing the circularity of label materials, utilizing our revolutionary Reprocess technology,” says Ted Higgins, chief operating officer with Mitsubishi Chemical Group’s polyester film division. “This agreement brings a level of organization and coordination to film liner recycling that has been lacking and has the potential to accelerate the movement to material circularity across the labeling industry.”  

To learn more about the program or how to get started recycling your liner click here.    

The Biden administration helped to broker a tentative agreement, averting a potential rail shutdown that would have impacted U.S. supply chains.

United States railroad unions have secured a tentative deal after about 20 hours of talks brokered by the Biden administration to avert a rail shutdown that could have impacted supply chains nationwide, freezing many cargo shipments and causing inflation to spike.

According to a report from Reuters, Biden administration officials hosted labor contract talks Sept. 14 to secure an agreement between unions, which represent 115,000 workers and railroads, including Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern. Negotiations between the companies and a dozen unions had been ongoing for more than two years.

Industry associations, such as the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC), have sent letters to congressional leaders urging them to help avert a possible railroad strike.

“Rail service is vital to the receiving and delivering recycled of materials used in manufacturing—including 70 percent of all U.S.-produced steel, which is made from recycled material,” ISRI states in its letter to congressional leaders. “Without rail shipments of ferrous metal, steel mills across the country will be forced to slow or even shut production. The same is true for other recycled materials such as aluminum, paper, copper, plastics and glass. Moreover, even a short rail strike would send a ripple effect through our economy that will take months to recover from as these supply chains will be disrupted.

“Rail service is also critical to ensuring the recycled materials industry can provide materials that are a sustainable alternative to those that require cutting trees, mining, drilling or harvesting scarce natural resources. Moving recycled materials off the rail system and onto trucks would not only increase carbon emissions but also clog our nation’s highways.”

AISI President and CEO Kevin Dempsey sent a letter to congressional leadership Sept. 14 urging Congress to act if a voluntary agreement in the rail negotiations had not reached a conclusion. Had the rail industry not come to a tentative agreement, Dempsey says, it would have had serious negative consequences for the U.S. economy, including the steel industry.

“Our nation’s railroads not only serve as the arteries for American commerce—they are an indispensable necessity for the health and survival of our domestic steel industry,” Dempsey says. “American steel producers rely heavily on railroads for transporting raw materials to their mills and for shipping finished steel products to the market. A functional freight railroad system is critical to ensuring that the American steel industry can effectively and efficiently serve its customers. At a time when our nation’s supply chains for critical materials like steel have not yet fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be a tremendous setback for supply chains to suffer another blow. … A voluntary agreement among all parties to the ongoing rail negotiations is clearly the best outcome. But if negotiators fail to reach an agreement by the end of the cooling off period, we urge Congress to act to ensure that our nation’s freight rail system remains operational.”

The ACC sent a letter to congressional leaders Sept. 9, asking lawmakers to “closely monitor” the contract negotiations for freight rail workers and to act quickly to prevent a work disruption.

“Freight rail is critical to ACC’s members and chemical manufacturing,” ACC’s letter states. “Our industry is one of the largest freight rail customers, shipping 2.2 million carloads in 2021. We rely on railroads to safely transport our products to customers around the United States and the world. A rail strike or work stoppage of any length would cause potentially devastating harm to our industry, the nation’s supply chains and the economy. … A fair and workable rail labor agreement is a critical step towards resolving the ongoing freight rail service crisis that is already harming American manufacturers, farmers and energy producers. ACC believes a negotiated solution between the parties is always the preferred outcome.”

With a tentative deal in place, Reuters reports that the unions must now vote on this deal. President Joe Biden says the tentative agreement reached “is an important win” for the economy and the nation.

“It is a win for tens of thousands of rail workers who worked tirelessly through the pandemic to ensure that America’s families and communities got deliveries of what have kept us going during these difficult years,” Biden says in a statement on the tentative rail agreement. “These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions and peace of mind around their health care costs, all hard-earned.”

Biden says the tentative deal also benefits railway companies, helping to ensure they can retain and recruit more workers.

“I thank the unions and rail companies for negotiating in good faith and reaching a tentative agreement that will keep our critical rail system working and avoid disruption of our economy,” Biden adds.

Billy Johnson, chief lobbyist at ISRI, says if the tentative agreement isn’t ratified, it could spell problems for supply chains and the economy. He adds that rail networks have already notified some customers that they were not picking up shipments in light of the potential strike.

“They were preparing for the worst. That already has sent a few ripples through the marketplace,” he says. “It just takes a blip for that to happen. I would expect railroads to remain tentative … holding to these customer warnings.”

He adds that if the agreement passes, it likely will lead to increased transportation costs to pay for higher wages among rail workers. 

“Costs are going to go [up] through the system, obviously,” Johnson says. “Most of these [rail companies] are publicly traded companies, and they will try to keep profits up. They will have to pass labor costs over. That means that most likely, even if scrap prices don’t go up … the price of transportation will go up and so the price of steel will go up. I don’t see the steel industry absorbing much, and I would imagine that they will pass on as much of the cost as possible.”

A study by Toronto-based Capterra found that 87 percent of survey respondents acknowledge their choices affect the environment.

Toronto-based Capterra Canada launched its latest research study of more than 1,000 Canadian consumers to understand their participation in sustainable consumerism and the circular economy. According to the survey, 87 percent of Canadian consumers acknowledge that their behavior has a direct impact on the environment. This understanding is reflected in their buying habits, as the same number reportedly favor buying products from companies with active circular economy measures in place. The first half of Capterra’s report substantiates this, revealing that, despite a lack of confidence in their knowledge of the circular economy—only 13 percent of respondents were confident in their understanding of the circular economy—Canadians are interested in contributing to sustainable shopping. Buy-back programs are among those consumers can participate in which help develop the circular economy. While 88 percent of respondents stated in the survey that they “actively care” about extending the life cycle of their products, only 8 percent routinely participate in buy-back programs, revealing a significant disparity between interest and participation. “With buy-back programs, just as with many other sustainable practices, the onus cannot fall entirely on the consumer. Of course, consumers can’t participate in programs that don’t exist or they’re unaware of,” says Tessa Anaya, an analyst for this study. “Businesses wishing to appeal to sustainable-minded consumers should not only invest in trade-in programs, locally-sourced products and supplies and eco-friendly manufacturing processes but also aim to be as transparent as possible about these changes in marketing efforts.” The survey states that 78 percent of respondents separate recyclable material from waste and 79 percent use reusable grocery bags, making those the most common sustainable habits among consumers. It's less common for consumers to pay more to make sustainable choices while shopping, states the survey. About 50 percent of respondents say they would pay more for a given product to support sustainability. Just 20 percent of respondents say they buy local or “kilometer-zero” products regularly, and 13 percent prioritize buying second-hand products. Second-hand shopping  Sixty-three percent of Canadians reportedly buy second-hand products occasionally, and 79 percent have sold their used items at least once, making the second-hand economy one of the most important driving factors of the circular economy in Canada. A significant 86 percent of respondents often donate products that they no longer use. Of those who do not partake in the second-hand economy, it is not caused by a lack of interest. In fact, 28 percent of respondents say said they would prefer to donate or give away used items, rather than sell them.

Reducing food waste  Although apps like TooGoodToGo are making strides in Canada to reduce food waste, 7 percent survey participants Canadians actively use them; however, 27 percent are aware of them. However, 30 percent of respondents reported that they would like to support businesses that actively reduce food waste.

Steel producer warns of narrower profits in the current financial quarter.

Nucor Corp. says its expected third quarter 2022 earnings will be down by some one-third compared with a highly profitable second quarter.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based electric arc furnace (EAF) and scrap recycling company expects third-quarter earnings to be in the range of $6.30 to $6.40 per diluted share. Nucor reported net earnings of $9.67 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2022 and $7.28 per diluted share one year ago in the third quarter of 2021.

“We expect the steel mills segment earnings to be considerably lower in the third quarter of 2022 as compared to the second quarter of 2022, due to metal margin contraction and reduced shipping volumes particularly at our sheet and plate mills,” the company says.

Nucor says its steel products segment is expected to have “another strong quarter in the third quarter of 2022.” Nucor says earnings in its raw materials segment, which includes its David J. Joseph network of scrap yards, “are expected to be similar to the second quarter of 2022.”

The company adds, “We continue to believe that 2022 will be the most profitable year in Nucor's history.”

Recycle Florida Today recognizes programs in three counties for their efforts last year.

The recycling programs of Collier Country, Indian River County and Lee County, Florida, have been awarded 2022 Recycle Florida Today Environmental Sustainability Awards for their program.

The Ocala, Florida-based Recycle Florida Today (RFT) organization says the three counties demonstrated noticeable efforts to increase recycling. “The programs displayed an increased awareness of the importance of sustainability and ability to motivate others to maximize their recycling, composting, grass-roots efforts, waste reduction, sustainability efforts and improving their recycling rates through education, outreach and by example,” RFT says.

Sue Flak, Recycling Education and Marketing Coordinator for Indian River County, presented the county’s “community fridge” program during a recent webinar and accepted the award.  The purpose of that program is to reduce food waste, build stronger communities, encourage local artists, and promote equal access to healthy food.

The Fellsmere Fridge program, part of that larger effort, is used to share food at the neighborhood level. It is maintained by a collective of partners from drawn from communities, officials, businesses and individuals.

RFT describes itself as Florida’s state recycling organization and “premier association educating recycling and environmental professionals throughout Florida from both the public, private and nonprofit sectors.”