The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), a plastic industry trade association, has hired Maine Plastics as the official recycler for NPE2012, an international plastics exhibition to be conducted from 1 to 5 April 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) located in Orlando, Florida.
Maine Plastics will handle the collection, segregation, shipment and recycling of production-line wastages as well as the debris such as PET bottles left behind by over 60,000 visitors. Maine Plastics will cooperate with OCCC, SPI, vendors and exhibitors in managing the recycling program. David Spitulnik, who serves as Maine Plastics’ President, stated that the company’s objective is to match or exceed the NPE2009 recycling program where it reprocessed 95% of the recyclable materials, which equates to 125,000 lbs or 57 t.
Gene Sanders, who is the Senior Vice President of Trade Shows and Conferences for SPI, stated that the NPE2012 recycling program will exceed the NPE2009 recycling program by a huge margin. This will be due to the exhibition of more number of machines in full operation at the NPE2012 from closures and caps to automotive components to blown film, he added.
To emphasize the significance of PET recycling, SPI will arrange a PET recycling demonstration as an awareness and education program for the industry. Sanders stated that in coordination with Maine Plastics, the association will conduct a live recycling demonstration and a display of products made from recyclable PET bottles, including strapping, clothing, fibers and more bottles.