Spurred on by the tremendous response to the recycle program at this year’s NPE2015, SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association decided to launch a new show next year – re|Focus: Recycling Summit and Expo.

The goal of the show, according to organizers, is to assist brand owners, processors and the plastics supply chain to take their environmental goals from aspirational to operational.

At NPE2015, which was held in April at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center, 82 exhibitors participated in the program to recycle processing scrap generated on the showfloor, twice as many as at NPE2012, causing a dramatic increase in the amount of material collected for recycling.

Commercial Plastics Recycling (CPR), the official recycling company for NPE2015, collected, sorted, and recycled 191 tons of processing scrap, which was 62 percent more than was collected at NPE2012 and 235 percent more than at NPE2009.

As the show has grown and the amount of scrap has increased, the recycling program has increased its capacity.

“We reached out to exhibitors well in advance of NPE2015 to find out their needs and get a clear idea of how we should prepare,” said Paul Benvenuti of CPR. “Another big help was having our containers and trucks on site during setup since machines were being operated and generating scrap well before the start of the show.”

Altogether, NPE2015 generated 518 tons of waste at the Orange County Convention Center, including both processing scrap and post-consumer waste.

Of the total, 452 tons, or 87percent, was recycled. CPR reclaimed the processing scrap at its recycling facility in Tampa, Fla., and through a contract carrier, the Orange County Convention Center arranged for recycling of post-consumer waste.

All of this was driven by NPE’s Recycling Committee, comprised of representatives from companies exhibiting at NPE2015, and SPI’s director of operations, Lori Campbell.

“SPI and the plastics industry’s commitment to reduce, reuse, or recycle was a significant focus of the show, and we believe our recycling efforts were a realization of that commitment,” said Bill Carteaux, SPI’s President and CEO. “As the leading trade event in plastics, we needed to model the appropriate behavior, and thanks to the efforts of our recycling program partners, we were able to do just that.”

The new event, re|Focus: Recycling Summit and Expo, will provide education and solutions on plastics reduction, reuse, and recycling as well as sustainable practices in plastics design and manufacturing.

re|Focus will be held April 25-27  in Orlando, and  NPE2018 May 7-11, also in Orlando.