The Recycling Partnership Joins CMI as Grant Program Partner to Evaluate Proposals and Provide Technical Assistance for Projects that Target Missorted or Lost Cans at Recycling Centers in the Southeast
FALLS CHURCH, Va (JAN. 26, 2021) – The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and The Recycling Partnership (The Partnership) announced requests for proposals (RFP) for aluminum beverage can capture grants, sponsored by Ardagh Group and Crown Holdings, that will fund eddy currents, robots, and other equipment or process improvement activities to capture used beverage cans at Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs). The Recycling Partnership joins as a strategic partner by fulfilling several critical roles in the grant program including evaluating and assessing the proposals submitted.
The RFP for the program is open to all U.S. MRF operators in the Southeast region. There will be two rounds of applications, with the first round closing on Feb 19 and the second round closing on March 31. After all, proposals have been submitted, The Partnership will evaluate the proposals based on criteria including the anticipated number of additional used beverage cans (UBCs) captured, the potential for replicability in future projects, the ability of the applicant to successfully implement the project and measure its success and the applicant’s ability to leverage additional financial resources to support the project. CMI, along with aluminum can manufacturers Ardagh and Crown, will provide feedback during the grantee selection process. The first grantee is expected to be announced by March 31, 2021, and the remaining grants will be awarded by June 30, 2021. Grantees are expected to provide initial impact results by the end of 2021.
The MRFs that receive grants will be able to capture and sell beverage cans that are currently being lost or uncaptured at the MRF and going to landfill. While aluminum beverage cans are consistently one of the most valuable materials in the recycling stream, a recent CMI study indicated up to one in four beverage cans are missorted at a typical MRF.
Capturing these cans will provide critical revenue to MRFs, many of which struggle with sortation costs higher than revenue earned from selling recyclables. It also means additional aluminum will be recycled into new cans or other useful, recyclable products. This is important since making an aluminum beverage can with recycled material generates more than 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than making a can from primary material. Further, captured aluminum can provide this benefit many times since aluminum is infinitely recyclable.
This grant program is the latest aluminum beverage can industry effort to build on its industry-leading recycling rates. The grant program will foster additional examples of MRFs that have successfully invested in can capture equipment, providing case studies to spur more MRFs to invest in aluminum can capture.