Brightmark Energy, a San Francisco-based waste and energy solutions company, and RecycleForce, an Indianapolis social enterprise that provides electronic recycling services and employs formerly incarcerated individuals, created a multi-faceted collaboration around training, hiring and recycling.
Brightmark has committed to hiring RecycleForce-trained individuals for jobs at its Ashley, Indiana advanced plastic recycling plant. Meanwhile, RecycleForce will provide Brightmark with up to 1,700 tons per month of difficult-to-recycle plastics from televisions, computers, car seats, and similar products for processing at its Northeast Indiana facility.
RecycleForce provides 300 formerly incarcerated men and women with workforce training, case management, peer mentorship, and job opportunities each year. Analysis has shown that RecycleForce’s benefits to society are significant: reduced recidivism and increased employment produced $1.20 in economic value for every dollar invested in the program. The recidivism rate of RecycleForce participants is 25 percent versus about 77 percent nationwide.
“We recycle many tons of plastic every year, but when we receive plastics that are contaminated with food waste or other non-recycle materials, they have to be sent to landfills,” explained Gregg Keesling, president of RecycleForce. “Our partnership with Brightmark will enable us to instead recycle these plastics and will open up significant capacity for us to attract new suppliers of recyclable materials, and in turn, increase the amount of feedstock we provide to Brightmark. This means more revenue for RecycleForce – and more revenue means we can counsel, train, and prepare more returning citizens for the workforce.”
Brightmark has created a stable and predictable market for residual plastics like those from e-waste, which were previously considered unrecyclable by electronic waste processors. After China and other countries stopped accepting imported U.S. post-use plastics, many recycling processors ended up with a glut of plastics and nowhere to send them but a landfill. Brightmark and RecycleForce’s multiyear agreement allows for the annual volume of supplied plastic feedstock materials to grow over time as RecycleForce expands its operations and is able to take on more of these types of materials.
“Right now, I’ve got 10 semi-trucks worth of plastic sitting here ready to ship out to Brightmark’s plant as soon as it’s up and running,” said Andrew King, inventory and quality control director for RecycleForce. “That’s 10 semis worth of product that I haven’t been able to process because of the China recycling glut we’re facing in the U.S. The second these trucks leave our lot for recycling with Brightmark, we can bring in more materials.”
In addition to the feedstock and hiring commitments, RecycleForce program participants will play a key role at Brightmark’s Ashley, Indiana plant – they will lead workforce trainings for the facility’s new staff on workplace safety, forklift operation, and other operational needs.
Published in the March 2020 Edition
