Good article. The paragraph most relevant to JBI:
The overall rate of plastic recycling in the U.S. will remain relatively low—less than 7 percent of total plastic demand in 2016—as the industry faces a number of challenges. Recycling is minimal in several major plastic markets, including construction products, motor vehicles (other than batteries) and packaging film, due to a lack of collection capability or economical processing. Export sales (mostly to China) siphon off a substantial portion of plastic scrap, and much of what is processed domestically has high levels of contamination. As a result, only about half of the plastic collected for recycling makes its way to manufactured products in the U.S. market.
JBI claims that it has the solution to "economical processing" for at least some of this type of plastic. But the economics includes collection, which does not currently exist for these types of plastics.
If Tony Bogolin, as COO, is able to address this he will have earned his paycheck. He expressed at the AGM how difficult it is to get our hands on this plastic. The plastic will not just fall into our laps, regardless what people here think. It will take time for all entities to figure out how to make this type of recycling work.
The Madison County interest in the technology is frustrating to me. They seem to be saying "Hey, JBI, we've got waste plastic that you could use. Work with us." For some reason they are having difficulty getting JBI's attention. At least that is how I've been reading their statements in the articles. That suggests to me that JBI either doesn't think that is an economical path to follow or they have bigger fish to fry first. I hope it's the latter. But I also think that Madison County, if it makes sense economically, could be a great model for how the business could roll out across the country.
If it does not make sense economically, that is a big concern, in my opinion. I think the type of plastic they want to recycle is representative, in terms of cost of collection and processing, of the majority of plastic that is not currently being recycled.
Nothing is a slam-dunk with this new business. The technology and business operations are being addressed. We have yet to find out how profitable this venture can be.
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