2013 Postconsumer Plastics Recycling in Canada February 2015 Prepared by Moore Recycling Associates for the Canadian Plastics Industry Association Moore Recycling Associates Inc PO Box 1327 Sonoma, CA 95476 707-935-3390 707-935-1998! www.MooreRecycling.com 2013 Postconsumer Plastics Recycling in Canada 1 Introduction This is the fifth year that Moore Recycling Associates has conducted a survey to determine the amount of postconsumer plastic recovered in Canada for recycling. This report documents how much Canadian postconsumer plastic was collected and reclaimed by U.S or Canadian reclaimers and how much was sold to overseas markets. This study is sponsored by the Canadian Plastic Industry Association (CPIA) and is made possible by the businesses that cooperated by providing data. Executive Summary In 2013, at least 311.5 million kilograms of postconsumer (including commercial)1 plastic material in Canada was collected for recycling. This represents a 9% increase in recycling over 2012, mostly due to a significant increase in purchases by domestic reclaimers. Postconsumer Plastic Collected (kgs) 400,000,000 300,000,000 200,000,000 100,000,000 0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 PET Bottles HDPE Bottles PP Bottles Non-bottle Rigid Film Foam 1 Throughout this report the term “postconsumer” refers to plastics that have been used for their intended purpose by consumers and by businesses. Commercial materials are often recovered outside of curbside or drop-off collection programs and include items such as totes, pallets, crates, and other commercial packaging (this report does not cover the recycling of industrial plastic, which the U.S. EPA defines as materials, such as scrap and trimmings, that are generated in manufacturing and converting processes). Moore Recycling Associates Inc PO Box 1327 Sonoma, CA 95476 707-935-3390 707-935-1998! www.MooreRecycling.com 2013 Postconsumer Plastics Recycling in Canada 2 Overall, 84% of the material reported was reclaimed in Canada or the U.S. and 15% was exported overseas. The destination is unknown for the remaining 1%. This study, which documents 5 years of recycling data, consistently indicates that material collected in Canada for recycling routinely remains in North America rather than moving to overseas markets. Summary of Canadian Postconsumer Plastic Recycling2 3 2013 Change in 2013 2013 North American End Markets Collection Collection Capacity2 Utilization3 (millions of 2012-2013 (millions of of kgs) (millions of kgs) Capacity kgs) PET Bottles fiber, food & beverage bottles, film & sheet, 112.8 9.4 NA NA strapping, and non-food bottles HDPE Bottles bottles, pipe, film & sheet, automotive 66.7 0.3 110 72% applications, lawn & garden products, lumber & decking PP/Other For PP: automotive applications, crates & Bottles 9.1 4.1 NA NA buckets, caps & closures, lawn & garden products Non-Bottle automotive applications, crates & buckets, Rigid Plastics lawn & garden products, pipe, film & 66.3 0.8 110 72% sheet, fence posts, consumer and household products Film film & sheet, pipe, automotive applications, 54.0 10.2 53 44% lawn & garden products, pallets, lumber & decking, crates & buckets Foam protective packaging, building products, 2.7 1.7 NA NA picture frames Increased collection, as well as continued progress in companies responding, contributed to the growth in postconsumer plastic reported. This report’s findings are based on data from two surveys: a postconsumer plastic recycling survey of export markets for all postconsumer plastic categories and all domestic markets—except PET bottle reclaimers—conducted by Moore Recycling, and a separate survey of PET bottle reclaimers conducted by the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) and the National Association for PET Container Resources 2 Capacity for processing bottles often overlaps with capacity to process non-bottle rigid plastic and/or film. Thus, adding the capacities reported here for bottle, non-bottle rigid and film could result in some double counting. 3 Utilization is determined using estimated capacity and reported purchases by Canadian reclaimers. Moore Recycling Associates Inc PO Box 1327 Sonoma, CA 95476 707-935-3390 707-935-1998! www.MooreRecycling.com 2013 Postconsumer Plastics Recycling in Canada 3 (NAPCOR). Data for this report was provided by 52 companies 4—23 Canadian and 16 U.S. plastic reclaimers5, as well as, 13 exporters. Data gathered in the survey is cross-checked with data available from Canadian provinces and other recycling industry information. This is a voluntary survey, so the amounts reported here represent the minimum known to be recovered for recycling. Postconsumer Plastic Recycled by Major Category (kgs) All categories of reclaimed plastic showed increased collection over 2012, although the bottle and film categories represented most of Foam 2,680,000 the growth: a 13-million-kilogram increase in bottles and a 10-million-kilogram increase in film. Film Plastic bottles continue to make up the majority of 53,963,000 the recycled plastic. PET bottles are the highest volume plastic product segregated by resin collected for Bottles 188,539,000 recycling, followed by HDPE bottles. Given the consistency in year-over-year participation by bottle reclaimers, the reported increase in the total Non-Bottle Rigid amount of bottles acquired for recycling is clearly 66,337,000 an actual increase, rather than a function of improvements in survey participation. Non-bottle rigid plastic recycling increased only slightly over 2012, in contrast to significant increases from 2011 to 2012. The increase from 2011 to 2012 was primarily due to an increase in mixed rigid bales reported by domestic reclaimers. Some of the non-bottle rigid plastic increase from 2012 to 2013 was also due to increased purchases of mixed rigid bales by domestic reclaimers, but there was a more significant increase in resin-segregated non-bottle rigid plastic reported. The increased purchases by domestic reclaimers offset the drop in mixed rigid bales reported by exporters sending material overseas. This decrease in handling by overseas exporters was undoubtedly due to China’s Green Fence effort, a program during much of 2013 that more strictly enforced regulations pertaining to the quality of imported scrap and resulted in significantly reduced plastic exports from North America and Europe. 4 In contrast to previous year reports, the total for companies responding includes those responding with Canadian sour- ced postconsumer plastic scrap to the Moore Recycling survey, as well as the APR/NAPCOR PET bottle reclamation survey. 5 Moore Recycling surveys and counts material from reclaimers, defined as companies that wash postconsumer material or otherwise process unwashed material into a clean feedstock or end product. Moore Recycling Associates Inc PO Box 1327 Sonoma, CA 95476 707-935-3390 707-935-1998! www.MooreRecycling.com 2013 Postconsumer Plastics Recycling in Canada 4 North American reclaimers continue to report expansions that enable them to begin processing non-bottle rigid plastic or to process more of it. The volume of non-bottle rigid recycling reported here is likely still conservative, particularly the volume reported as non-bottle rigid plastic segregated by resin (mostly from the commercial sector). An increase in film recycling of 23% over 2012 is attributable to both increased collection and strengthened participation in the survey. Growth in capacity for clean, clear single-resin film led the slight growth in capacity in 2013 over 2012. The majority of the foam reported was expanded polystyrene (EPS), which was predominantly from protective packaging for durable products and some food packaging, e.g., meat trays, clamshells and coffee cups. The volume reported for foam almost tripled; this is likely due to better responses, but industry efforts to increase collection also had an impact. Postconsumer Plastic Recycled By Resin (kgs) PET and HDPE make up the majority of postconsumer plastic recycled in Canada. The majority of the HDPE LDPE PVC PET is from bottles (90%), although the 98,671,000 42,253,000 2,628,000 non-bottle rigid PET portion is growing: 10% compared to 5% in 2012. PP 32,279,000 Recycled HDPE is comprised of 68% bottles, 22% non-bottle rigid and 10% PET 125,687,000 film; this is consistent with 2012. The Other 6,574,000 PS third largest resin collected for recycling 3,426,000 is LDPE, consisting primarily of film (99%). PP consists of 77% non-bottle rigid and 23% bottle material. Moore Recycling Associates Inc PO Box 1327 Sonoma, CA 95476 707-935-3390 707-935-1998! www.MooreRecycling.com 2013 Postconsumer Plastics Recycling in Canada 5 Methodology Moore Recycling Associates conducts the Canadian survey simultaneously with the annual U.S. Postconsumer Plastic Recycling Survey. This is a voluntary survey. The survey gathers data on all Canadian- and U.S.-sourced postconsumer plastic except that purchased by PET bottle reclaimers in Canada or the U.S.; as previously mentioned, that data is provided by a study conducted through APR and NAPCOR. To ensure the most accurate information: ! Moore Recycling continually updates its markets database to include current exporters, reclaimers, and other handlers of plastic scrap in the U.S. and Canada; ! Moore conducts an electronic survey of market participants in plastic recycling to collect data; and ! Moore provides a verification step for survey-collected data, checking the accuracy of the data through follow-up calls, conversations with industry contacts, and reviews of other public sources