Maine Plastics helped keep 90% of the scrap generated at the show out of Chicago-area landfills.
Maine Plastics once again served as the official recycler of the NPE: The International Plastics Showcase, North America's largest plastic manufacturing show, held June 19-23, 2006, at McCormick Place in Chicago. Maine Plastics also served as the official recycler of NPE 2000 and NPE 2003.
NPE 2006 featured more than 2,000 exhibitors from around the world. Exhibitors demonstrating equipment produced more than 400,000 pounds of scrap in 3 buildings over 4.5 days. Maine Plastics organized the recycling and removal program in conjunction with Eco-Educators, an environmental training company, with the goal of keeping at least 90% of the scrap from the show out of Chicago-area landfills. Maine Plastics collected 40 truckloads of scrap from the 82 exhibitors participating in the program this year, up from 36 truckloads from 72 exhibitors in 2003. The scrap was collected and sorted on-site, then moved to Maine Plastics' facility in Zion, IL, for processing.
"The program provided a support service for exhibitors by resolving the problem of collecting and recycling scrap plastics," said Robert Render, president of Maine Plastics. "At the same time, participation by exhibitors helped dramatize the fact that plastics are recyclable by keeping the scrap generated at the year's largest plastics show out of the waste stream."
"Life is like a box of regrind…you never know what you're going to get"
Maine Plastics Vice President David Kaplan put a slight twist on the familiar quote from Forrest Gump in his opening remarks as a panelist at NPE: The International Plastics Showcase. David and Maine Plastics President Robert Render discussed "Creating Value in Your Recycling Program" as part of a panel focused on Recycling: Latest Happenings. In their presentation, they offered advice on increasing revenue from scrap including demanding excellence from your employees, providing as much information as possible about the material, and choosing the right recycler.