Untangling the Confusing World of Recyclables with Bradley Kelley

Bradley Kelley developed MRF processing systems, also known as MRFs or material recovery facilities, before joining GBB. It's a material recovery facility for recycling, and there are these great, big, huge machines that would pull all the material back apart. You'd sort your paper into one bin, your containers into another, and your metals into yet another so that you could get paid for the recyclables you put in the curbside bin.

On this episode, we'll talk about:

On this episode, we'll talk about:

• the state of the recycling industry as a whole. There is a lot of confusion around the topic of recyclability. What items are captured, why and how the whole thing really works
• How much damage does wish-cycling do to the recycling stream or process?
• when it comes to recyclable items, the material is important, but what's almost most important there is the right shape, that it's the shape of a bottle, a water bottle, soda bottle, or a milk jug for HDPE.
• most people don't realize that even though it is the same material, it does need to be treated differently. And that does impact its likelihood of being captured.
• any plastic that is black cannot be recovered in a MRF.
• The recycling or plastic industries choose the items they do because there is value later down the value chain.
• the reasons that smaller items aren't often collected or captured
• Many brands are switching over to aluminum instead of plastic. Is it true that it could be infinitely recycled?
• How does that Eddy Current work?
• Because glass is heavy and breaks easily, there are many different views and ideas about recycling it. What is his opinion of glass in terms of whether it will be recycled or not?
• What are some of the weirdest things he's seen in a recycling stream?
• What's his opinion of just the recycling part? Are all the claims made about biodegradable or compostable materials that are entering or already available in the market making things more difficult for the recycling stream? What effect does that have?
• Does he think that the molecular advanced chemical recycling process will be the solution for those hard to recycle items that mechanical or manual processes cannot collect?
• Do he think that the implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs, which requires companies throughout the packaging value chain from manufacturers to retailers to take responsibility for the disposal of their products, is here to stay?
• The topic of sustainability is clearly becoming more popular, and it appears that more companies are developing goals or objectives. Has he noticed this in his line of work? More companies want to do more. They want to collaborate. They want to try to find solutions.

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Find out more about Bradley on his website, and connect with him on LinkedIn.
Website: https://gbbinc.com/about/our-experts/bradley-kelley-bsme
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/bradley-kelley-58388370

The views and opinions expressed on the "Packaging Brothers" podcast are solely those of the author and guests and should not be attributed to any other individual or entity. This podcast is an independent production of Packaging Brothers, and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2023.