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May 11, 2023

York City partners with CRDC Global in effort to become first plastic

York City has big ambitions for its new partnership with Center for Regenerative

York City has big ambitions for its new partnership with Center for Regenerative Design and Collaboration, which operates a recycling facility.

Mayor Michael Helfrich said he wants the city to become the first plastic-free city in the United States. The partners recently took an initial, incremental step toward that goal in the form of a program to provide residents with bags and additional recycling drop-off sites.

"That means we are going to take the plastics from the City of York and CRDC Global is going to turn it into material that can be then used in building new homes," the mayor said.

CRDC Global, the Center for Regenerative Design and Collaboration, which is based in Costa Rica, was founded in 2018 and has operations in eight countries. York County is home to its first facility in the United States.

Using a patented process, plastics are shredded, mixed with minerals and turned into lumps that are shredded into the pebble-sized product dubbed Resin8. While traditional recycling processes can only accept resin one and two, designated by the numbers on the bottom of plastic products, Resin8 is made from any resin, including numbers three through seven.

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The final product is an additive that is used to strengthen concrete. CRDC Global does not make the concrete itself but sells the plastic material to other companies that make concrete products, said Ross Gibby, CRDC's chief operating officer. Concrete made with Resin8 can still be reused and recycled.

"Let's say at the end of 80 or 100 years — when a building gets torn down — that concrete can be crushed up into rubble and then reutilized as aggregate in another life of concrete," Gibby said. "So, it is fully circular, even after we move it from the plastic circular [recycling] loop into the concrete circular [recycling] loop."

City employees in the Public Works Department will pick up bags from the drop-off sites once a week, Helfrich said. The city built the three new drop-off sites, which cost a total of around $9,000.

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While "The Bag That Builds" is an established program, CRDC is a relatively new partnership with the City of York, but the first drop-off sites have been successful, according to Gibby.

"We've been running this program at our facility on North Eberts Lane for a little over a year now. It was so successful. The mayor thought that the impact it would have on the community was worth scaling it," Gibby said.

Before Tuesday, there were only two CRDC Global drop-off locations. One is at Refillism, a household cleaning and beauty products refill and zero waste store located in Downtown York. The other is at the CRDC Global factory at 390 Eberts Lane.

Elizabeth Bower, the Refillism owner and founder, said she reached out to CRDC Global last August asking how her store could get involved in "The Bag That Builds" program. So, Refillism installed a drop-off bin at the store next to the parking. She said a gate code is needed to access this site, but all people must do is come in and ask for the code.

"It's just amazing how the community is really excited to have a place to put their plastics like everybody has already mentioned. One and two typically go into the recycling bin, then we have all of these other plastics," Bower said.

Refillism isn't the only business in York that is partnering with CRDC Global either. WellSpan York Hospital started taking some of their plastic waste to CRDC Global in April of this year, Kerria Robinson, the WellSpan senior director of environmental services and sustainability, said at the ceremony.

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This partnership stemmed from WellSpan Health's sustainability strategy launched in 2022. Robinson said the hospital produces about 30 pounds of waste per patient bed per day. So far, WellSpan has taken 59 gaylords — industry jargon for large pallet-sized boxes — of plastic waste to the CRDC Global factory, she said.

Currently, WellSpan is only sending a portion of its plastics to CRDC Global but hopes to send more in the future, she said.

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CRDC Global asks that residents only use the company-provided green bags to take recyclables to drop-off sites. To pick up a free green bag for recyclables, residents can visit the CRDC Global factory at 390 Eberts Lane, York. Refilllism is located at 38 S. Beaver St.

For more information on the drop-off sites, visit www.yorkcity.org.

— Reach Noel Miller at [email protected] or via Twitter at @TheNoelM.