THIS WEEK I visited the graveyard for millions of Lower Mainland milk jugs. Peggy Trendell-Whittaker ECOINFO Well, not the graveyard. More accurately, it was the place where HDPE (high density polyethelene} products are transformed and reborn as recycled plastic peilets, ready for use by manufac‘ urers. Representatives of various Lower Mainland municipal recycl- ing programs were toured around . Merlin Plastics by Merlin’s Tony ‘Moucachen and Dow Chemical’s Jim Cairns, West Vancouver resi- dent and chairman of the B.C. chapter of EPIC — the Environ- ment - and Plastics Institute of . Canada. The B.C. government entered into an agreement with Merlin and Dow: the province foaned Merlin . the money to expand its plant, ‘ and Dow will be marketing - Merlin’s product — tiny pellets of recycled plastic resin. a Currently, over one million . pounds of HDPE milk jugs and juice bottles are stockpiled. in Merlin’s Annacis Island yard, ‘in- cluding milk jugs collected through the North Shore blue box program. Merlin was anxious to get a good backlog of ‘‘feedstock’’ be- fore starting its post-consumer Friday, March 6, 1992 —- North Shore News - ENVIRONMENT Plastic recycler relies on consistent product recycling operation, which it will do in a few weeks. This million pounds will keep their machines running for six to eight weeks. The plastics Merlin is now recycling are post-industrial plastics —- products such as plastic crates for carrying pop bottles or eggs. Moucachen says his plant can recycle just about any type of plastic, provided he receives it in a large quantity — about 80,000 Ibs. is usually the minimum — and in good enough quality. He emphasizes repeatedly that he cannot establish consistent buyers if he doesn’t produce a high-quality product, and he can’t produce a high-quality product if he isn’t working with sorted, non-contaminated feedstock. There is currently no process in which you can pour a wide variety of mixed plastics into a machine and come out with a usable pro- duct at the other end. Superwood tried it, and it didn’t work. The only market for the mixed plastic waste that some municipalities collect is in coun- tries like China, where the labor cost is so low the plastics are The number two refers to the plastic industry code for the various types of plastic, which ranges from one through seven. HDPE is number two. Unfortunately, however, the system is somewhat confusing, as not all HDPE two is created equal. Depending on the product being made, different moulding tech- niques are used: injection, blow moulding or extrusion. Each of these types requires the plastic to melt at a different temperature, which in turn requires subtle variations in the form of HDPE being used. HDPE types have a ‘melting index’? that ranges from five grams per 10 minutes to 50 grams per 10 minutes. A pop bottle crate has a melting index of 10; a yogurt container has an index of 50, and milk jugs fall somewhere in the middle. That’s why the North Shore blue box program can’t accept all HDPE two plastics, even though the marking on them may be identical to the one you find on your mitk jug. Once Merlin gets its new expan- 44 Merlin is now recycling our post-industrial plastics — products such as plastic crates for carrying pop bottles or eggs. 99 hand-sorted. And guess what? According to Moucachen and Cairns, the “pickers” quality plastic — the HDPE milk jugs — and throw the rest away. “To go outside collecting high-density, natural-colored number two plastic is unsound,”’ said Cairns. weed out the high- | sion fully up and running, it will have a capacity of up to 2,500 Ibs. per hour, or between 15 and 20 million tonnes annually. | The. plastic is first sent along a conveyor belt, shredded through heavy-duty rotors, washed to remove any dirt or labels, sent through a dryer where the paper is removed from the batch, then put ROYAL BIRDATHON The Royal Birdathon 1s coming to the Vancouver area this Sunday, March 8th. It's a unique opportunity for youand His Royal ess, Prince Philip, to help protect Canada's wild areas and the wild species in them. Frince Philtp, cn a 4-day conservation visit to the area for World Wildlife Fund Canada, will do through an extruder, which melts the plastic chips and reforms them into the tiny, uniform pellets that are Merlin’s end product. These are sold to North Ameri- can plastic manufacturers who use them for non-food applications in accordance with current Food and 7 Drug Administration regulations. Moucachen, who employs 25 people at the plant, says the plastics recycling industry can in- ject about $5 million inio the pro- vincial economy annually. “It’s an excellent business for the recession,”’ he notes. SPRING HOME & GARDEN SHOW BB thor ee Custom built closet organizers & mirror doors Eliminate waste, space and mess Create more useable space in any closet INSTALLED OR DO IT YOURSELF Offer ends March 31/92 WOODLINES Custom Bult Furniture for the home & offic ice iE Showroom Open Mon-Sat. CANADIAN CLOSET "A family owned business since 1984” 1385 Crown St. N. Van. 986-4263 9-5 the bird-spotting. He invites you to sponeor him for each species he spots. The Prince is an accomplished birder, and is likely to see between 70 and 80 species. The proceeds from your sponsorship pledge wiil be used by WWF for their Canadian wilderness protection program. in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada. We are proud to participate in such a worthwhile event and encourage all of our customers to join in and show the Prince and the WWF what we car do. We think that this would also be a great opportunity for Teachers, Brown Owls and Scouters to get the children involved in birding, habitat protection and our willingness to preserve the gifts of Nature for their enjoyment and their children's enjoyment. To sponsor Prince Philip, pledge forms can be picked up at the store; or by calling World Wildlife Fund at 1-800-26-PANDA NEST BOX TIME! 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