NPE aims to go green with waste diversion plans to recycle 90pc of show waste

The Plastics Industry Association, producers of NPE2018: The Plastics Show, has said it will divert all its waste from the show for recycling or compost, to exceed the 87 per cent of waste that was diverted from NPE2015.

Commercial Plastics Recycling  will collect and remove scrap plastic from the NPE2018 show floor and transport it to the new, on-site recycling area in the Westwood carpark, where a WEIMA two-stage shredding system will reduce the collected scrap plastic into a small pellet size before it is transported to CPR’s headquarters in Tampa.  Attendees are invited to visit the demonstration area to see the recycling process in action.

Paul Benvenuti of CPR, said: “The addition of on-site grinding capabilities will ensure an even greener NPE. Reducing the plastic before transportation will allow us to use fewer trucks when hauling it to our facility in Tampa, resulting in fewer carbon emissions.”

At the CPR plant in Tampa, the plastic that was reduced from the show floor will undergo rigorous quality control testing to make sure it meets material specifications before it is sold to end-users. Once sold, the plastic can be reborn into new products, often being used in place of newly-produced, virgin plastic materials.

William R. Carteaux, PLASTICS CEO, said: “Plastics are a valuable resource that should always be recovered for their highest and best use - at NPE2018, we’re practicing what we preach, putting sustainability and recycling at the centre of the event, from the forward-thinking educational programming of the co-located Re|focus Sustainability & Recycling Summit, to our ambitious goal of diverting 100 percent of the waste from the show.”

Food prep waste from the show that can’t be donated will be collected and transported to Harvest Power’s Energy Garden in Orlando, where it will be recycled into electricity and fertilizer for local farms. The Energy Garden uses anaerobic digestion to divert organic waste from the landfill and turn it into clean, renewable energy, transforming it into a sustainable resource for the community.