Maine Plastics Will Recover and Recycle the Vast Amount of Reusable Plastics Generated at NPE2012

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August 18, 2011

Contact:

Robert Martino
914-478-0754

pr@npe.org

SPI Predicts a Surge in the Amount of Process Scrap, Resulting from an Increase in the Number of Equipment Lines Operating on the Exhibit Floor

Next year’s NPE2012 international plastics exposition will be so big that the reusable scrap generated in just one day by equipment operating on the exhibit floor will amount to tens of thousands of pounds.

To prevent the waste of this valuable material, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association has appointedMaine Plastics, Inc.as the official recycler for NPE2012. The company is charged with the collection, separation, transportation, and reprocessing of production-line scrap, as well as such other waste as the PET bottles left behind by more than 60,000 visitors.  NPE2012 is the fifth consecutive edition of the triennial NPE for which Maine Plastics has provided these services.

Organized by SPI, NPE2012 will take place April 1-5, 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, Florida. Maine Plastics will coordinate with SPI, the OCCC, exhibitors, and vendors in administering the recycling program.

Taking part in the program will cost exhibitors no more than if they used standard trash removal services, noted David Spitulnik, president of Maine Plastics.

“Our goal is to equal or surpass the NPE2009 recycling program, in which we collected and recycled 95% of the recoverable materials, amounting to 125,000 pounds [57 metric tons],” said Spitulnik.

Chances are good that the 2012 recycling program will surpass that of 2009 by a large margin, according to Gene Sanders, SPI’s senior vice president of trade shows and conferences. “We expect to see a lot more scrap being produced on the NPE2012 show floor, and that will be a good thing,” said Sanders. “It will be the result of a substantial increase in the number of machines being shown in full operation, enhancing the value of attending NPE2012 while yielding everything from caps and closures to blown film to automotive components.”

The increase in operating equipment will be the result of the lower costs and simpler logistics available to exhibitors in the new Orlando venue, as compared with the Chicago site of the NPE2009 show, Sanders noted.

To highlight the importance of recycling PET, SPI is organizing a PET recycling demonstration and exhibit designed to be an education and awareness platform for the industry. “Working with Maine Plastics, we will sponsor a live reprocessing demonstration, plus an exhibit of products manufactured from recovered PET bottles, such as fibers and clothing, strapping, and, of course, more bottles,” said Sanders.

Maine Plastics is headquartered in Zion, Illinois and was established in 1983. The company processes  more than 140 million pounds (63,600 metric tons) annually. Maine Plastics will open a new plant in Utah during 3Q 2011; its existing plants are located in  Zion and Kankakee, IL; Schoolcraft, MI; Dover, DE; Apex, NC; Richmond, VA; Stratford, CT; Buffalo, NY; and Columbus and Kearney, NE.www.maineplastics.com.

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The NPE2012 international plastics exposition will take place Sunday through Thursday, April 1-5, 2012, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The NPE2012 educational program will begin on Sunday. Monday will be the first day of the four-day trade show. NPE is produced by the SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association. Visitwww.npe.org. 

The NPE2009 international plastics exposition will take place June 22-26, 2009 at Chicago's McCormick Place. The event is produced by the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI). Co-located with NPE2009 will be the Society of Plastics Engineers' ANTEC^TM2009, the world's largest plastics technical conference, and Gardner Publications' MoldMaking Expo^TM2009 show and conference. Visitwww.npe.org.

Founded in 1937, SPI is the plastics industry trade association representing the third largest manufacturing industry in the United States. SPI's member companies represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment manufacturers and raw materials suppliers. The U.S. plastics industry employs 1.1 million workers and provides nearly $379 billion in annual shipments.

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