Fresh funding targets PP recycling in America

The US Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, a cross-industry partnership, is providing US$ 1 million (EUR 830 000) in grants to three materials recovery facilities to boost the recovery of polypropylene (PP) across the country.

The recipients (with location) are: American Recycling (Candler, North Carolina); DEM-CON (Shakopee, Minnesota); and Independent Texas Recyclers (Houston, Texas).

The latest injection means the organisation has awarded US$ 3 million to seven recycling facilities since its launch in 2020. The aim is to improve access to kerbside PP recycling for an additional 3% of US households, accounting for about 7.2 million people nationally. It is estimated this could increase PP recovery by an estimated 4 300 tonnes per year.

Members of the coalition steering committee are Keurig Dr Pepper, Braskem, NextGen Consortium and the Walmart Foundation, as well as other members of the PP value chain including the non-profit organisation The Recycling Partnership.

‘The coalition is leading the effort to rapidly drive meaningful, measurable change that will improve and increase the capture of polypropylene in US kerbside recycling,’ says Sarah Dearman, vice-president of Circular Ventures at the Recycling Partnership. ‘We continue to encourage all companies that use PP to join us in being part of the solution to ensure greater and better capture of this recyclable material.’

She believes that widespread interest and commitment from MRFs across the US to recyclable PP ‘clearly demonstrates the market strength’ for the material nationwide.

New grants coming

Dearman says the coalition received a ‘strong response’ to both the first and second rounds of requests for proposals and continues to accept grant applications to boost polypropylene recycling. The next deadline for applying for grants is 30 June. MRFs interested in sorting and recycling PP are being encouraged to apply.