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Apr 27, 2023

York, Pa. sets goal to become a plastic

York City is on its way to becoming America’s first plastic-waste-free city.

York City is on its way to becoming America's first plastic-waste-free city.

York Mayor Michael Helfrich held a press conference with members of WellSpan, the downtown York business community and CRDC Global, a plastic reuse company, to discuss the city's goal of becoming plastic free.

During the conference, the mayor announced that York will be diverting plastic waste into CRDC Global's plastic reuse program, "The Bag that Builds," in order to help reach this goal.

With this plastic recovery program, anyone can fill one of the green bags with unwanted plastic, then drop it off at the plant and get new bags. CRDC has a drop-off site at its manufacturing facility, located at 390 Eberts Lane.

Refillism, located at 38 South Beaver St. in downtown York, also has a drop-off site for the green bags. Now, there will be three new sites accepting the bags - Yorktown Park at 1089 Kelly Drive, Hoffman Complex at 500 Rockdale Ave. and Bantz Park at 798 Salem Ave.

These sites take all plastics, including plastic waste which otherwise cannot be recycled. The plastics dropped off at these sites are converted into RESIN8, an innovative building material that enhances the integrity of concrete and asphalt. This creates a solution for unwanted plastic waste.

RESIN8 is suitable for concrete blocks and pavers, pre-cast concrete, ready-mix concrete, mortars and hot mix asphalt. The result is a material that is up to 15% lighter or stronger (depending on its usage), with up to 20% better insulation properties than traditional concrete, according to the release. It has already been used by Habitat for Humanity to build housing in Latin America.

COO of CRDC Global, Ross Gibby, said that the York plant, the first in North America, was to be a blueprint for creating other facilities around the country. When CRDC built the plant here, they expected it to take a few years before they opened any more facilities in the U.S., but the success they have seen here has accelerated those plans.

More on CRDC:Comings and Goings: plastic recycling plant opens in York, popular German restaurant closes in Abbottstown

More on WellSpan expansions:WellSpan plans to build 3 new community hospitals in York and Cumberland counties

More on Refillism:Refillism: York store will fill any container with eco-friendly cleaning, beauty products

Gibby said that CRDC Global is in talks to break ground on three new facilities in the U.S. by the end of 2023, but did not share those locations.

He added that the success of The Bag that Builds program has also exceeded expectations.

"The response has been tremendous," he said. "We relied on word of mouth to tell people about this, as we hoped for maybe 5% of our plastic waste intake to come from the program, but we are taking in hundreds of bags a day. It's blown us away."

Gibby said that this program alone has brought in more than 20 tons of plastic.

Elizabeth Bower, owner of Refillism, said that the drop-off site at her store in downtown is filled every weekend. Refillism is a store that allows customers to bring in used bottles of household cleaning supplies and health and beauty products and refill them with eco-friendly alternatives. They offer laundry detergent, lotion, toothpaste, dish soap, hand soap, washable paper towels and more.

Helfrich said that part of becoming a plastic-free city is to shop at stores like Refillism, where residents can first reduce any plastic consumption.

"The less plastic you use, the easier it is for us to become a plastic-waste-free city," he said.

Kerria Robinson, senior director of environmental services & sustainability with WellSpan Health, said that the healthcare company has partnered with CRDC to take its plastic waste.

According to Robinson, the U.S healthcare industry is one of the biggest contributors to plastic waste, sending about 30 pounds of waste per patient bed to landfills each day.

Robinson said that WellSpan plans to use RESIN8 in its new expansions, but did not currently have any data on how much RESIN8 would be used in these construction projects.

Helfrich said that the City of York would also be using RESIN8 in new projects.

For more information, visit CRDC Global online at crdc.global.