1. NC Marine Debris Symposium - 2017
The Cost of Recycling
NC Marine Debris Symposium
Sonoco Recycling
Onslow/NHC - MRF
Presented by:
Brian Shea, Plant Manager

2. Two Facilities – One MRF Operation
New Hanover Operations (~3,000TPM):
Process 80% of Stream
-Mixed Paper, Cardboard, Glass, Residue
-Leverage exports and Wilmington Port
Open commercial business and processing for local communities to recycling single fiber commodities
-Cardboard, SOP, highgrade fibers
3. Ship remaining highgrade material to the Onslow facility to be additionally sorted
Onslow Operations (~3,000TPM):
Continue to process materials from surrounding communities
Leverage the new investments (Optical Sorter/Metering Bin/Tipping Floor) to efficiently blend and sort remaining containers from NHC in order to maximize throughput
Continue to be a leader in commercial baling operations

3. Acceptable List of Materials3
Acceptable List of Materials
Aerosol cans
Aluminum
Bottle caps & lids 
Cardboard
Glass bottles/jars
Juice boxes 
Milk and juice cartons
Paper
Pizza boxes
Plastics 1-5 & 7
Spiral paper cans
Steel/tin cans

4. Who is Sonoco? Consumer Packaging Tubes and Cores/Paper Other Services4
Who is Sonoco?
Consumer Packaging
Tubes and Cores/Paper
Global Engineered Carriers
Sonoco Recycling
Global Paper
Global Composite Cans
Plastic Containers
Other
Flexible Packaging
Metal & Plastic Closures
Protective Packaging
Molded Plastics
Services
Service Centers, Graphics Management and P-O-P Displays

5. Common Examples of Contamination
Hoses and Wires
Medical Waste
Clothing
These are the most common examples of residue from Curbside Recycling programs.
Food Waste
Plastic Bags

6. Contamination Issues - Summary6
Contamination Issues - Summary
3 Primary Issues
Equipment Issues
Mechanical failure
Residue/Housekeeping Issues
Personnel
State Regulation
Quality Issues
Contamination
Supply chain issues

7. Equipment Issues
Bags, hoses, metal wiring get caught in almost every part of the recycling process.

8. Equipment Issues (cont.)
Because of contamination, sorting screens need to be cleaned multiple times per day, sometimes in between breaks.

9. Equipment Issues (cont.)
Bags can get caught in motors/gearboxes causing significant downtime and money.

10. Residue/Housekeeping Issues
Bags typically contain food/waste contamination which cannot be efficiently recycled.

11. Residue/Housekeeping Issues (cont.)
The plant is cleaned daily, but bags continually cause a housekeeping issue inside the plant.

12. Residue/Housekeeping Issues (cont.)
Also causes outside housekeeping issues.
State Regulation requires landfill properties to be kept clean at all times. Bags pose a challenge to this standard.

13. Residue/Housekeeping Issues (cont.)
Significant time, energy, and money is spent cleaning the property of wind blown bags and film.

14. Quality Issues
Line Sorters dedicated on Post Fiber to pull bags / contaminants out of MP Fiber before finishing process.

15. Quality Issues (cont.)
Domestic Paper Mills (customers) require less than 2% tolerance on contamination.
Exports (China) standards are changing to less than 0.3% contamination.

16. Quality Issues (cont.) Bale of Mixed Paper
Paper Mills do have cleaning systems, but excessive residue causes quality issues throughout the entire supply chain. Increases the cost of recycling to manage chargebacks/rejections.

17. Exports – Chinese Ban on Mixed Paper/Mixed Plastics
Effective January 1st, 2018 China has placed a ban on all Mixed Paper and Mixed Plastic grades due to excessive industry wide contamination.
This is sending shockwaves through the industry, instilling a new focus on quality.

18. Statistics 2016 Avg Residue: 12.76%
Curbside Commingle Recycled: ~60,000 tons annually
Tons of Residue Processed (incl bags): Est ~7,600 tons/year
Cost to Process Residue: Est ~$25,000/month or over $300,000 annually.

19. Statistics (cont.) 2015 v. 2017 Avg Residue: +2.15%
Steadily increasing residue rates in the curbside recycling programs and forcing MRF’s to focus on inbound quality and community education.

20. Questions?