## APR updates members on latest efforts
_By Editorial Staff, Resource Recycling_
The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers held its annual meeting last week in San Antonio, with the organization offering members an overview of its operations and updates on its latest projects.
APR now includes a record 126 member companies and has reported annual revenues of $825,000, expenses of $715,000 and reserves of $600,000. It is establishing a foundation in order to accept grants and other sources of funding, and the association says it is working on closer alliances with other industry groups, including a more coordinated effort in working with the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and encourages more of its members to join ASTM.
In personnel news, the organization elected four new members to the board of directors, including Dave Heglas of Trex Co., Tom Emmerich of Schupan Recycling, Byron Geiger of Custom Polymers PET and Scott Saunders of KW Plastics. APR also announced that Dave Cornell will be stepping down as technical director in January, to be replaced by John Standish.
On the technical side of things, the annual meeting offered a range of updates on ongoing projects and the latest trends in plastic recycling. For instance, injection stretch blow molding (ISBM) is being looked at as a new, efficient way to make HDPE bottles, especially for dairy applications. Mahesh Patkar of TOTAL Petrochemicals suggested this technology has many attributes. It results in resin lightweighting and high manufacturing throughputs.
But HDPE reclaimers have many concerns. Will HDPE ISBM affect recycling? Patkar noted that "ISBM containers are still high-density plastic. It's fully compatible with other forms of containers." He noted, however, that it is not possible to separate them from traditional blow-molded containers.
TOTAL plans to address recycling issues. "We're in early on this market development, and we're undertaking recycling studies, assuming a much-higher market penetration," he concluded.
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