The P&G brand is launching five collections this month in packaging, with two more collections to follow in early 2022.

Herbal Essences will be the first Procter & Gamble (P&G) brand to use Eastman Renew molecular-recycled plastic in its packaging. Starting in November, the brand will introduce five shampoo and conditioner collections in primary packaging made from Eastman Renew resins with 50 percent certified recycled plastic, which is achieved by allocating the recycled plastic to Eastman Renew materials using a mass balance process certified by ISCC (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification), Cologne, Germany.

In August, P&G, headquartered in Cincinnati, and Eastman Chemical Co., headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, announced they would collaborate on initiatives to advance recycling. According to a joint news release, the launch of Herbal Essences in packaging made from Eastman Renew materials is the first step the companies are taking to leverage Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies to advance their shared commitment to the circular economy.

Five Herbal Essences Bio:renew sulfate-free collections will use Eastman Renew materials beginning this month, while two new collections will launch in January 2022. These new packages will include standardized How2Recycle labels to clarify recycling instructions and encourage recycling behavior, the companies say. Herbal Essences will continue to offer a national recycling program across the U.S. through TerraCycle as well.

“It’s on all of us to make a difference and create a more sustainable future where plastics are truly recycled, reused and out of nature,” says Herbal Essences principal scientist Rachel Zipperian. “Making this package change to Eastman Renew materials reduces the brand’s dependence on virgin plastic and helps us bring the world one step closer to making plastic a circular resource. By including the standard How2Recycle label, Herbal Essences is encouraging people to recycle their empty bottles.”

“We are excited to see our partnership with Procter & Gamble reach consumers’ hands with the launch of these Herbal Essences packages,” says Chris Layton, Eastman sustainability director for plastics and circular solutions. “We are delivering solutions to the plastic waste problem right now and look forward to the continued collaboration with P&G as a leading partner.”

Earlier this year, Eastman announced that it planned to build a “molecular” recycling facility for end-of-life polyester products and packaging at its existing site in Kingsport to leverage that site's scale and integration. Through methanolysis, the company can convert end-of-life polyester products and polyethylene terephthalate packaging that are difficult to recycle by mechanical means into recycled raw materials that will be used to produce its specialty plastics.

Atlis says the partnership will improve its supply chain and bottom line.

Atlis Motor Vehicles, a startup mobility technology company based in Mesa, Arizona, has entered into an agreement with Canada-based Li-Cycle Corp. to recycle lithium-ion batteries.

“While we are just beginning our development journey, as a responsible battery and electric vehicle manufacturer, battery recycling must be a critical step in our supply chain,” says Mark Hanchett, CEO and founder of Atlis Motor Vehicles. “We are thrilled to partner with a local recycler, like Li-Cycle, not only to be environmentally responsible, but to impact our bottom line. It is less expensive to reuse battery material than mine for new supplies."

Atlis says it is developing a fully electric vehicle platform, proprietary battery cells, battery packs and the necessary charging infrastructure to recharge a 500-mile range battery in less than 15 minutes.

According to a news release from Atlis, Li-Cycle recovers critical materials from lithium-ion batteries and reintroduces them back into the supply chain. Li-Cycle uses its commercial lithium-ion battery recycling Spoke & Hub Technologies to recycle lithium-ion batteries regardless of their chemistry or form factor, recovering up to 95 percent of all critical materials with the output going back into battery production.

“According to Benchmark Intelligence, the total number of lithium-ion batteries that will be available for recycling globally will exceed 2 million metric tons by 2025,” says Kunal Phalpher, chief commercial officer at Li-Cycle. “There is tremendous opportunity to positively impact the environment through the recycling of electric vehicle batteries. Li-Cycle works with both traditional auto manufacturers and innovative startups like Atlis, who are committed to safe and effective recycling, to help them meet their recycling needs utilizing our breakthrough lithium-ion recycling technologies.”

The company will collect polypropylene at the team’s home games to recycle at its facility in Ironton, Ohio.

PureCycle Technologies Inc., Orlando, Florida, has partnered with the Cleveland Browns to serve as the plastics recycling partner for the NFL team.

According to a news release from PureCycle Technologies, the Cleveland Browns and PureCycle will partner to enhance waste management solutions at the FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland on gameday as part of PureCycle’s PureZero waste program.

Through the partnership, PureCycle plans to provide community messaging to educate fans on recycling plastic scrap at the stadium. The company says it will collect polypropylene from Cleveland Browns’ home games to be recycled into ultrapure recycled plastic at PureCycle’s facility in Ironton, Ohio, with the goal of increasing recyclable materials and advancing sustainability efforts for the NFL team and its stadium. PureCycle plans to open the Ironton facility by the fourth quarter of 2022.

The company says PureCycle and Cleveland Browns volunteers will participate in a Community Day of Action Nov. 15 at Chambers Elementary School in Cleveland in honor of America Recycles Day and this new partnership.

“As someone born and raised in Ohio, I’m thrilled that the first sports team to adopt PureCycle’s PureZero program is the Cleveland Browns organization,” says Mike Otworth, CEO of PureCycle. “With PureCycle’s PureZero program, cups from each home game can be recycled into an ultrapure recycled plastic that can become next season’s stadium cup. We will work with the Browns to create a beneficial environmental impact that will bolster their efforts to be leaders in the community. The Cleveland Browns are the perfect partner for this program with our flagship recycling plant just a few hours away.”

The company says the second shift will allow it to process an additional 20,000 devices monthly.

S3 Recycling Solutions, a full-service technology recycling firm in Springfield, Tennessee, is launching a second shift at its 75,000-square-foot electronics recycling facility in Springfield. The additional operating hours are expected to add 15 jobs to the facility over the next 12 months. 

S3 says it will begin accepting applications immediately for sorters, freight handlers and data entry technicians. The second shift is expected to be fully operational in early 2022. 

“With the recent uptick in hacks and data security breaches, many companies are putting more emphasis on physical destruction of hard drives and data wiping,” says Rod McDaniel, S3’s CEO. “A second shift will allow us to process an additional 20,000 devices every month.” 

The company says increased demand for e-scrap solutions is driving the expansion. Information technology equipment management and data-bearing device security are becoming critical business components.

Demand for containerboard stayed strong and grew throughout the year.

Atlanta-based WestRock achieved record net sales for its 2021 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. According to the company’s latest earnings report, the sustainable packaging producer achieved net sales of $18.7 billion in 2021, up 7 percent compared with $17.6 billion for its 2020 fiscal year. The company says it achieved net sales of $5.1 billion for its fourth quarter, up 14 percent compared with $4.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The company achieved net income of $838 million in the 2021 fiscal year compared with a net loss of $691 million in 2020. For the fourth quarter, WestRock achieved a net income of $324 million compared with a net loss of $1,156 million in the prior-year quarter, which included a $1,314 million goodwill impairment net of tax. WestRock’s adjusted segment earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $3 billion in its 2021 fiscal year compared with $2.8 billion in its 2020 fiscal year, and adjusted segment EBITDA was at $878 million in the fourth quarter, up 22 percent compared with $721 million in the prior-year quarter.

“The WestRock team delivered strong results in fiscal 2021, with record net sales and strong cash flows for the full fiscal year,” says David B. Sewell, chief executive officer of WestRock. “We executed on our capital allocation priorities, and I’m pleased to announce that we reached our target net leverage ratio in the quarter. In addition, we recently announced another increase to our dividend, which will result in a 25 percent increase since February.”

Since the fourth quarter of 2020, WestRock has published several price increases for its packaging materials due to inflation. According to the company’s earnings presentation Nov. 9, WestRock raised its North America containerboard prices by $160 per ton and coated recycled board (CRB) prices by $270 per ton this year. The company reported that some key inflation drivers include recycled fiber, virgin fiber, energy, freight and chemicals.

WestRock’s Corrugated Packaging segment net sales increased $500 million in the fourth quarter of the year compared with the prior-year quarter. The company attributes the segment’s net sales increase to higher selling price and mix, higher volumes and favorable impact of foreign currency. WestRock reports that the Corrugated Packaging segment delivered a segment EBITDA margin of 17.8 percent and a North American adjusted segment EBITDA margin of 19 percent. Additionally, the company says Corrugated Packaging segment income increased $93 million in the fourth quarter of the year compared with the fourth quarter of 2020 primarily due to the margin impact of higher selling price and mix as well as higher volumes that were partially offset by net cost inflation and other items.

The company reports that its Consumer Packaging segment net sales increased $156 million in the fourth quarter compared with that same time frame last year. That segment’s income also rose $60 million in the fourth quarter compared with the fourth quarter of 2020.

Demand for containerboard also was strong in the 2021 fiscal year, and WestRock worked to build its recycled fiber inventory levels this year in response to that demand.

“We knew we had a heavy outage in the first quarter [of 2021] with maintenance, and we had to delay some of that maintenance because of the ransomware attack and with COVID getting contractors into our mills,” Sewell said during the earnings call Nov. 9. “So, that kind of created the perfect storm for our first quarter. But if you look at the inventory builds that we wanted to do, we did build inventory coming into this [fourth] quarter. I would say it wasn’t as much as we would have liked because of the demand that we’re seeing. So, we’re probably a little behind in the inventory levels we’d like to be at, but we were able to build a little bit going into this first quarter.”

During the earnings call, Sewell said the company wants to remain focused on developing sustainable, recyclable packaging solutions in the future.

He said, “Tim Hortons recently announced our partnership to test a recyclable and compostable hot beverage cup. We look forward to this work with a valued customer to move the recyclability of cups forward.”

He added that the company had received a Sustainability Award of the Year from the Paperboard Packaging Council for the packaging producer’s partnership with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners on the CanCollar.

Looking to the first quarter of its 2022 fiscal year, the company reported during its earnings call that it expects to take about 200,000 tons of maintenance downtime in the first quarter. The company expects the first quarter to be its peak maintenance outage period for the 2022 fiscal year.

“We have 10 major mill maintenance outages in the first fiscal quarter, one of the largest amounts in one quarter in WestRock’s history,” Sewell said. “These assumptions, combined with three fewer shipping days and the normal seasonality in our consumer business, results in forecasted adjusted segment EBITDA of $660 million to $700 million. In fiscal 2022, we expect solid demand across most of our end markets and continued flow-through of the previously published price increases.”

Additionally, the company expects to see inflation increase in the first quarter of the year, driven by higher fiber and energy costs.

Sewell added, “We have a resilient business model, which was reinforced with record adjusted free cash flows in fiscal 2021 in the face of many challenges. Our outlook for fiscal 2022 continues the remarkable trend of growth in sales and adjusted segment EBITDA as well as strong cash flow.”