Mixed-Plastic Recycling Technology Diverts 10,000 Tonnes from Landfill

The Recycling Challenge

Creating a Closed-Loop Process for Mixed Plastics

When EFS-plastics owner and president, Martin Vogt, moved to Canada in 2006, he saw a gap in the recycling market. Nobody had found a commercially sustainable solution for processing mixed plastics to create raw materials for new products. So, as soon as Stewardship Ontario invited proposals for innovative mixed plastics recycling solutions, Martin’s company was among those that stepped forward.

The Blue Box Solution

Stewardship Ontario Funds Commercial Concept Testing

In February 2010, Stewardship Ontario, along with Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO), entered into an agreement with EFS-plastics Inc. to help purchase additional equipment for its mixed rigid plastics processing plant, which was then located in Elmira, Ontario. This meant that more mixed plastics could be recycled in local markets.

$1.5 Million Loan Enables Facility Expansion and Relocation

Additional investment from Stewardship Ontario enabled EFS-plastics to double its capacity and relocate to nearby Listowel, where the new 39,000-square-foot plant will be able to process up to 12,000 tonnes of mixed plastics a year. It’s here that the company produces high quality resin pellets, which can replace virgin plastic up to 100 per cent in the manufacture of new consumer products. The company sources its Blue Box mixed plastics from Waterloo, Hamilton, Niagara Falls and York Region, as well as other municipalities in Ontario, Quebec and the U.S.

Environmental Benefits

EFS-plastic’s closed-loop manufacturing process currently diverts over 10,000 tonnes per year of mixed rigid plastics (#1 – #7) and plastic films (#2 and #4) from landfills, saving more than 62,000 megawatt hours of energy—the annual consumption of approximately 1,700 4-person households.

The Mixed-Plastics Collaborators

Stewardship Ontario’s Blue Box—A not-for-profit organization funded and governed by the industries that make and market the products and packaging materials recycled through the programs it manages—the Blue Box and Orange Drop.