The Recycling Partnership measures impact of Polypropylene Recycling Coalition

The Recycling Partnership, Washington, launched its Polypropylene Recycling Coalition three years ago with a goal of improving polypropylene (PP) recover in the U.S. The coalition has brought together stakeholders from across the PP value chain to provide grants that support new and improved PP capture through sortation technologies.

To date, the coalition has provided $10.3 million in grant funding to 41 material recovery facilities (MRFs) to support better PP capture and recycling community education to residents. Included in those numbers, the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition awarded five grants this month to the city of Phoenix Transfer Station; a MRF in Scott County, Iowa; Curbside Management Inc. in North Carolina; Balcones Resources’ San Antonio MRF; and Chittenden Solid Waste District in Vermont. Brittany LaValley, senior director of materials advancement at The Recycling Partnership, tells Recycling Today grants awarded this month totaled $1.325 million, with the average award amount at $265,000. 

According to a news release from The Recycling Partnership, the 41 grantees are all at varying stages of their projects, ranging from ordering new equipment, installation and operation. Of the 41 grantees, one-third of the facilities have had equipment in place long enough to provide sufficient data on the impact of the grants. The Recycling Partnership says the reporting facilities collectively captured 1.3 million pounds of PP per year prior to receiving the grants; these same facilities are capturing 11 million pounds of PP annually since receiving the grants.

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“In the last few years, there has been notable investment in polypropylene recycling,” LaValley says. “While polypropylene is undoubtedly making progress as a recyclable material through the coalition’s support and other meaningful investment, much more work and investment will be needed to make it a universally accepted recyclable material.”

The Recycling Partnership says it estimates that once all 41 MRFs have installed and operationalized PP recovery equipment, these investments will result in more than 42 million new pounds of PP recovered annually. The organization reports that these investments will help 34.2 million people have a better opportunity to recycle PP in their curbside recycling programs.

The Recycling Partnership has released a report outlining the impact of the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition grants. According to that report, PP represents “a huge recycling opportunity.”

“We estimate that U.S. single-family households generate more than 2 billion pounds of PP annually,” the report states. “If just 30 percent of this material were recovered … it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 311,000 metric tons and provide 609 million pounds of valuable raw material to companies with recycled-content commitments, both voluntary and mandated.”