Gov. Edwards Tours Pratt, Praises $250M Investment In Louisiana Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards recently toured Pratt Industries’ Shreveport, Louisiana facility in celebra- tion of the company’s $250 million investment in the state. According to local news reports, Edwards had nothing but great things to say about the wages and quality of life the company affords its 250 employees, as well as the compa- ny’s dedication to protecting the environment as a produc- er of 100 percent recycled containerboard. Anthony Pratt, Executive Global Chairman of Pratt In- dustries, refers to Pratt’s material recovery programs and circular strategy as harvesting the urban forest. “Through our closed loop process, we harvest the urban forest to di- vert three million tons of paper, other recyclable materials and from the landfill each year.”
Earlier this year, Pratt Industries announced that it will open a facility in Cedar Hill, Texas, that will manufacture corrugated boxes and custom packaging solutions and employ 150 full-time workers. Pratt said that it will be the company’s 71st factory in the U.S. Pratt is the country’s fifth largest corrugated packaging company and operates an extensive recycling company to supply five 100 percent recycled paper mills in the coun- try. Pratt has demonstrated significant growth with state- of-the-art manufacturing facilites in 25 states. Domino’s, WestRock Launch Initiative To Boost Pizza Box Recycling Pizza box recycling has long been a source of debate in the industry, but this latest effort may be a sign of grow- ing consensus. According to an article on wastedive.com ,
the new campaign aligns with Domino’s broader box recycling efforts. In 2020, the company joined The Recycling Partnership. That same year it increased the recycled content in its pizza boxes from 40 percent to 72 percent. Domino’s also promotes piz- za box recycling to customers via email and social media. An estimated three billion pizza boxes — about 600,000 tons of corrugated — are used each year. Traditionally, they haven’t been accepted in curbside collection pro- grams because recyclers said grease con- tamination impacts the fiber quality to such a degree that it loses strength and cannot be recycled. WestRock released an industry study two years ago that many say debunked the myth about these recyclability issues. It concluded that pizza boxes in the recycling stream contain an average grease level of 1-2 percent by weight, and concentrations below 10 percent only cause low levels of fiber strength loss. Grease only significant- ly interferes with fiber recycling when the level reaches 20 percent, the study says, so fiber strength loss should be minimal for boxes with average grease levels. The AF&PA supports the study and says its member companies endorse pizza box recycling. It encourages communities to update their recycling guidelines to accept boxes that don’t contain food. “Pizza boxes are recyclable and used to make new products at U.S. mills across the country every day,” said Heidi Brock, AF&- PA president and CEO. “AF&PA members want the valuable fiber from pizza boxes in their recycling streams.”
22 October 3, 2022
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