Plastic Film Recycling Template Video Published

Elemental Impact produced our first video!  

With Elemental Impact Partners in Atlanta for the Annual Ei Partner Meeting, the Metro-Wide Plastic Film Recycling Template team met at FreshPoint's Atlanta distribution center the following morning for interviews and filming. Ei Chair Scott Seydel filmed | edited the video while Ei founder Holly Elmore served as the producer.

The video is key to documenting the Metro-Wide Plastic Film Recycling Template development where Atlanta serves as the pilot city. For the first video, initial action steps at FreshPoint are the focus. Here is the video:

Elemental Impact Plastic Film Recycling Pilot at FreshPoint Atlanta

In simple terms, the City-Wide Template game plan is to recruit 10 - 12 industry pioneers who generate a moderate amount of plastic film in their operations. Using a small baler, the pioneers collect and bale plastic film on-site for periodic collection. A local hauler delivers the small bales to a warehouse. The small bales are re-baled into standard size larger bales and stored in an empty tractor trailer. Once full, the plastic film is sold by the tractor trailer load as raw material to a plastic product manufacturer. 

The ZWA Blog post, If it was easy, it would already be done, announces the city-wide template and lists the inherent challenges within the groundbreaking program.  

Pilot pioneers are critical team members. Working closely with the Ei Partners, the pioneers develop the internal systems necessary to collect the plastic film produced at their facility. Creative solutions to the operational and other challenges are integral to template development. Top management buy-in as well as employee engagement are required ingredients for success.

Unveling the trial Orwak
baler @ Freshpoint

FreshPoint of Atlanta is the template founding pioneer. Owned by Sysco, FreshPoint is the nation's largest produce distributor with a strong sustainability commitment. As an early Zero Waste Zones Participant, FreshPoint has strong recovery practices in-place and is eager to forge new recycling frontiers. 

In the ZWA Blog article, Plastic Film Recycling: A New Frontier, Ei's plastic film recycling foundation and history is chronicled along with template development action-to-date. The Ei FB album, Plastic Film Recycling: building a metro-wide network, published as a comprehensive pictorial recap of the action-to- date in the Metro-Wide Plastic Film Recycling Template Pilot. The album is structured so it accumulate the pictorial story as the template is built.

Along with FreshPoint, the video features the following team members:

• M-PASS Environmental - a recycling and materials management consulting company; will orchestrate mini-bale collection, re-baling operations and material sales.
• Orwak - manufacturer of small balers; provided a complimentary baler for 90+ days at the pilot launch.
• Hilex Poly - a global leader in plastic bag manufacturing; contracts with M-Pass to purchase the baled plastic film by the tractor trailer load at a consistent price.
• U.S. Zero Waste Business Council - a national non-profit committed to educate, inform and document the performance of Zero Waste Businesses using scientific methods to help businesses and communities become more healthy and sustainable. Upon completion, the USZWBC will share the template within their network and encourage national duplication.

The Team checking out the
Ga Dome | GWCC plastic film

The template is destined to expand into other materials - paper, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), aluminum - during the development stage. The Georgia Dome is exploring the feasibility of an on-site MRF - materials recovery facility- where materials generated during events are baled for collection within the template infrastructure. 

For an overview of 2013 Atlanta Falcons game-day recycling practices tours, see the ZWA Blog articles,  Winning Recycling Seasons Require Team Work and Refining Recycling Practices at the Georgia Dome. Note the Georgia Dome serves as the Sustainable Food Court Initiative Event Venue Pilot.

Documentation of action taken, accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges resolved along with business | economic impact for participants and the community is critical to successful template development. Ei is excited to add video production to our documentation repertoire!