Hefty EnergyBags Stored at Boise, Idaho, MRF Until Market Reopens

The Hefty EnergyBag program in Boise, Idaho, is collecting but not processing hard-to-recycle plastics, such as chip bags, standup pouches, foam containers, candy wrappers and juice pouches. That’s because, according to Resource Recycling, the program’s processor, Renewlogy, suspended processing earlier this year to install new equipment.

According to the report, the Renewlogy facility in Salt Lake City is expected to restart during the first quarter of 2020.

Until then, communities that are part of the EnergyBag program and use Renewlogy as a downstream outlet are looking for other options. Boise, for instance, is collecting and storing the material at the local materials recovery facility (MRF) until the market reopens.

Resource Recycling has more:

The Hefty EnergyBag program is collecting but not currently processing hard-to-recycle plastics in Boise, Idaho. The program’s downstream processor suspended EnergyBag processing earlier this year to install new equipment.

Salt Lake City-based pyrolysis company Renewlogy announced over the summer that the company is installing upgrades at its facility, thanks to grant funds from Dow and Reynolds Consumer Products. The Utah plant is not bringing in EnergyBags for processing as those upgrades are installed, which has led to material piling up in Boise. The Utah facility has not been processing EnergyBags since early 2019, Waste Dive previously reported. The facility continues to be able to process rigid plastics, Renewlogy CEO Priyanka Bakaya told Plastics Recycling Update.

Boise last year rolled out the EnergyBag program, which is in place in several communities across North America and has residents place hard-to-recycle plastics in a bag that is manually pulled off the sort line at a materials recovery facility (MRF). These bags are then baled and sent to downstream outlets such as Renewlogy, a company that converts plastics into diesel fuels.

Read the full article here.