Cortec Corporation, a specialty chemical corporation with a focus on environmentally responsible - organic and bio-based - corrosion control technologies for a broad diversity of industries, has launched a new organics recycling programme at its Minnesota, US-based headquarters.
One particularly salient detail: the scheme will make use of commercially compostable waste collection bags made from the Eco Film material manufactured at Cortec’s own film extrusion plant in Cambridge, Minnesota. These Eco Film Bags are certified compostable under BPI certificate #890974 for disposal under industrial composting conditions at commercial composting facilities.
Cortec launched its organics recycling this year after being awarded a grant from Ramsey County to help with initial setup. This involved installing a new dumpster mezzanine area, purchasing new composting bins, training employees, and paying for disposal hauling services and compostable products such as cups, plates, utensils, etc. for the first six months. The organic waste will be collected in Eco Film Bags lining bins throughout Cortec’s facility and then sent to an industrial composting site in Rosemount, Minnesota, to be converted into soil amendments for local communities.
Senior Environmental Specialist at Cortec Corporation Corey Cremers, who has spearheaded this and many other environmental initiatives at Cortec, called the scheme an ‘important step in reducing our environmental impact here at Cortec’.
“Instead of sending waste materials to landfills we can migrate the waste to a beneficial resource like compost which can be used by the local community. It is cool to see all facets of employees from the office to the production floor participating in the program and adding value to our environmental management system,” he said.
Moreover, having previously supplied its Eco Bags to other initiatives and organics composting programmes, the company now gains especial satisfaction from using its film in its own initiative.
Cortec had previously already established a take-back and recycling programme for its VpCI corrosion inhibiting films. Next to incorporating industrial film scraps into its anti-corrosion products, the company also uses up to 20% recycled content sourced from pre-and post-consumer waste in its VpCI-126 film. As well, Cortec opened up its post-consumer recycling programme in 2017 by buying back used VpCI-126 from an off-road equipment manufacturer to incorporate back into new VpCI-126 film products. Today, other North American customers who use large amounts of VpCI-126 can now also ship these back to Cortec for reprocessing after use.
Meanwhile, Cortec’s European plant EcoCortec, has also implemented a similar, European-wide initiative to collect and recycle used VCI films and bags. Customers can then send their used film back to the plant in Beli Manastir, Croatia - the first recycling initiative of this type to be implemented in Europe. At that plant, which is fully equipped with VCI film extrusion, converting and recycling machinery, the film is completely recycled and incorporated into new products.