In connection with an
industry-sponsored recycling "Pilot Program," local waste company J.
P. Mascaro & Sons announced that as part of its contract for the curbside collection
of recyclables, Lower Providence Township residents will now join Pottstown
Borough residents in including flexible plastic packaging ("FPP") as
a recyclable, instead of landfilling that material.
J.
P. Mascaro & Sons and its TotalRecycle fully-automated single stream
recycling facility in Exeter Township, Berks County, are leading an industry
innovative "Pilot Program" to demonstrate the viability of processing
FPP at automated material recovery facilities and marketing the recycled
product, known as rFlex, to end users.
Historically,
FPP (i.e., plastic bags, wraps, pouches, product packaging, etc.), which represents
a growing portion of the residential household waste stream, has not been
successfully recycled and had to be landfilled.
Seeking
to process and market FPP as a "recyclable" for the first time, the
Materials Recovery for the Future ("MRFF") industry and association
members, including companies such as Dow Chemical, Nestlé Purina, Pepsico,
Procter & Gamble, Target, the Association of Plastic Recyclables, the
Flexible Packaging Association, the Plastics Industry Association, and the
American Chemistry Council, awarded a $2.6 million grant to Mascaro to install
sophisticated optical sorting equipment at its TotalRecycle facility to make
the recycling of FPP possible.
Speaking
about the Pilot Program, Pottstown Borough Manager, Justin Keller, said,
"Pottstown Borough was the first community to roll out flexible plastic
packaging collection curbside, and I'm proud that our community is a part of
the recycling pilot. Pottstown residents
are thrilled with the program's convenience, with the added benefit of
advancing environmental sustainability goals of both residents and the
municipality. We applaud efforts to
extend this innovative and valuable program to additional communities." Lower Providence Township will now join
Pottstown in that Pilot Program.
"Lower
Providence is pleased to be part of this recycling initiative," said
Donald Delamater, Lower Providence Township Manager. "It's an added benefit for our residents
and, just as importantly, moves our environmental efforts in the right direction."
Collection
of FPP as a recyclable will begin in Lower Providence Township in December,
after Mascaro notifies all Township households of the types of FPP that will
now be collected as recyclables. It is
expected that the FPP Pilot Program will generate important data to show
interested municipalities that FPP recycling is possible and economical, and
that there is a market for the rFlex end product.
Mascaro's
Director of Sustainability, Joseph P. Mascaro, Sr., said, "Our sustainable
mission is to remove these types of flexible plastics from the waste stream and
to give these materials an end market purpose.
The plan is to expand this program into every qualifying municipality
that J. P. Mascaro & Sons services."
For
more information about J. P. Mascaro & Sons, its infrastructure, facilities
and comprehensive waste services, please visit the company website at www.jpmascaro.com.