In Celebration of Earth Day, NPE2018 Shares its Plans to Divert Show Floor and Food Waste
April 17, 2018 – Washington, D.C. — The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), producers of NPE2018: The Plastics Show, today announced a 100-percent waste diversion goal for this year’s NPE, which will welcome more than 65,000 plastics professionals to the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, Fla. from May 7-11. The goal demonstrates the association’s commitment to sustainability and aims to exceed the 87 percent of waste that was diverted from NPE2015.
To achieve this goal, Commercial Plastics Recycling (CPR) will collect and remove scrap plastic from the NPE2018 show floor and transport it to the new, on-site recycling area in the Westwood parking lot, sponsored by WEIMA America. WEIMA’s two-stage shredding system will then reduce the collected scrap plastic into a small pellet size before it is transported to CPR’s headquarters in Tampa, Fla. Attendees are invited to visit the demonstration area to see the recycling process in action.
“The addition of on-site grinding capabilities will ensure an even greener NPE,” said Paul Benvenuti of CPR. “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.
“Plastics are a valuable resource that should always be recovered for their highest and best use,” said PLASTICS President & CEO, William R. Carteaux. “At NPE2018, we’re practicing what we preach, putting sustainability and recycling at the center 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.
For more information on NPE2018: The Plastics Show, or to register, click here.
