MBOLD is pleased to share the good news that the flexible film recycling plant in Rogers, MN, is relaunching operations. The plant has been purchased by GDB International, a leading global recycling company with proven success operating U.S. facilities. GDB is the lead investor, with General Mills, Schwan’s Co. and others also investing in the revamped operation.  

Expanding flexible film recycling infrastructure is essential for creating a circular economy for these useful but hard-to-recycle materials. As conveyed in GDB’s press release, MBOLD is excited to welcome GDB to the community. We look forward to working with stakeholders across our region to fuel a thriving circular economy for flexible films. Learn more.

The use of flexible packaging film is expanding rapidly. This material is pervasive in the food and agriculture sectors and used widely across many other sectors of our economy as well. The U.S. economy uses about 12-15 billion pounds of it per year.

However, in the U.S., only about 5% of this material gets recycled. That means virgin materials are used to make more flexible films, and after a single use, the packaging is all too often discarded, ending up in landfills or littering the environment.

MBOLD is developing a circular economy for flexible film packaging — specifically polyethylene film — starting in the Upper Midwest.  

MBOLD is working to expand film recycling infrastructure and increase the supply of recycled resin for use in new film products, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and curtailing waste. Compared with virgin plastics, studies show that use of recycled polyethylene resins offers significant life cycle benefits, including a 65 percent reduction in total energy used, a 59 percent reduction in water consumption and a 71 percent reduction in global warming potential.   

One of the biggest hurdles is developing products that can be manufactured from recycled film and sold profitably. Without those markets, recyclers don’t have an economically compelling reason to collect and recycle this material, no matter how much of it is available. MBOLD has been exploring and identifying potential uses for the material and evaluating how our members, in conjunction with others, can help build the market demand needed to make a circular economy hum.
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By working together, we are catalyzing a new circular economy that will expand access to film recycling in the Upper Midwest, increase the supply of recycled resin for use in new film products and cut emissions.