Plastics Recycling Business Plan

Replay Plastics

Executive Summary

Opportunity

Problem

How much of our solid waste is plastic? The Environmental Protection Agency reports plastic made up 12% of the 254 million tons of waste generated in 2007. That’s more than 30 million tons of plastic in one year. Some reports state plastic materials can take hundreds of years to break down in a landfill. When you take part in our plastics recycling program, you join a network of Green-minded people and companies who recycle millions of tons of plastics across the United States annually.

And, for every 1 ton of plastic that’s recycled, reports estimate that 7 yards of landfill space is saved. By recycling, you can also help conserve the additional 80% of energy that’s typically used when making new plastic bottles, containers and other items instead of recycling. It’s easy to see why recycling plastic is so important.

Baled plastics, specifically plastic bottles, have a high scrap value per ton. In fact, the only other recyclable that’s more lucrative is aluminum cans.

Solution

 

Replay Plastics  will create a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) cleaning and refining plant located in the western United States (all 16 major North American PET recycling plants are currently located in the eastern United States or Canada). Its initial capacity will be 46 million pounds, and it will utilize post-consumer bottle feed stock presently collected in California, Oregon and Washington States, which collect over 200 million pounds per year. The Company will be vertically integrated, and use almost all of its recycled material in its Packaging Division. Any surplus materials (clean flake) produced will be sold to outside companies. The extruded sheet may then be sold to manufacturers, who will thermoform it into high-visibility packaging or use it in other high value added manufacturing operations. The strapping will be sold to companies who ship large packages or pallets, such as the lumber milling industry

Market

Currently there is no direct competition in the western United States for either of the two divisions of the Company. Any production in the trading area remains captive and not available to our target market.

The ability of the Company to obtain a source of post-consumer bottle stock is an integral component of the strategy to vertically integrate operations and manufacture products in demand by western consuming industries. Without the cleaning and refining division, it would be difficult to source sufficient RPET flake resin at costs that would allow the Company to be competitive. 

Competition

There has been a strong demand (sellers’ market) for our products for several years. Traditional buying patterns in this industry are based on quality, price, reputation of manufacturer, freight costs, delivery times and proximity to markets. During such a sellers’ market, buying patterns are often more influenced by availability.

Why Us?

Replay Plastics is a manufacturing company dedicated to converting waste plastic materials into commercially viable products, utilizing environmentally friendly recycling and manufacturing methods. We intend to make enough profit to generate a significant return for our investors and to finance continued growth and continued development in quality products. We will also maintain a friendly, fair, and creative work environment, which respects diversity, new ideas and hard work

Expectations

Forecast

After a couple month start-up period to build the recycling and packaging facilities, buy equipment, and incorporate the business, Replay Plastics will begin a quick turnaround of product.

Financial Highlights by Year

Financing Needed

Our Founders will put up a total of $1.5 million dollars. We will also have a group of VC investors that will put up the 2.7 million dollars. This will give replay plastics the 4.2 million that it needs to start. 

Opportunity

Problem Worth Solving

How much of our solid waste is plastic? The Environmental Protection Agency reports plastic made up 12% of the 254 million tons of waste generated in 2007. That’s more than 30 million tons of plastic in one year. Some reports state plastic materials can take hundreds of years to break down in a landfill. When you take part in our plastics recycling program, you join a network of Green-minded people and companies who recycle millions of tons of plastics across the United States annually.

And, for every 1 ton of plastic that’s recycled, reports estimate that 7 yards of landfill space is saved. By recycling, you can also help conserve the additional 80% of energy that’s typically used when making new plastic bottles, containers and other items instead of recycling. It’s easy to see why recycling plastic is so important.

Baled plastics, specifically plastic bottles, have a high scrap value per ton. In fact, the only other recyclable that’s more lucrative is aluminum cans.

Our solution

Replay Plastics  will create a PET cleaning and refining plant located in the western United States (all 16 major North American PET recycling plants are currently located in the eastern United States or Canada). Its initial capacity will be 46 million pounds, and it will utilize post-consumer bottle feed stock presently collected in California, Oregon and Washington States, which collect over 200 million pounds per year. The Company will be vertically integrated, and use almost all of its recycled material in its Packaging Division. Any surplus materials (clean flake) produced will be sold to outside companies. The extruded sheet may then be sold to manufacturers, who will thermoform it into high-visibility packaging or use it in other high value added manufacturing operations. The strapping will be sold to companies who ship large packages or pallets, such as the lumber milling industry

Target Market

Market Size & Segments

Strong demand for recycled plastics is working in the industry’s favor.  Major users of plastic packaging, apparently responding to consumer desires, have begun incorporating at least some recycled plastic content in their products as part of the growing interest in recycling.  Recycled resin demand is on the rise as prices for the two major recycled resins, PET and HDPE, continue to hold value or appreciate against their virgin counterparts.

In volume, PET is currently the number one recycled resin. Supply of recycled PET is in excess of 800 million pounds per year. This figure is expected to grow, reaching over 1 billion pounds during the next few years. The plastics industry has developed new markets and applications for recycled resins from both post-consumer and post-industrial sources.

PET leads the recycled recovered resins as the most visible and valuable, and its use is increasing. Of the total 3.7 billion pounds of PET consumed in 1997, just 16% was from recycled sources. Of the more than 90 billion pounds of plastics produced annually in the United States, less than 5% is from recycled sources. Plastics, after aluminium, represent the second highest value material in the waste stream and have the highest projected growth rate.

Markets and uses for recycled plastics are rapidly expanding. Plastic containers are being collected at the curb for recycling in nearly 500 communities, representing more than 4 million households. U.S. demand for recycled plastic will continue to expand and new markets will develop as technologies permit the efficient segregation and reprocessing of high-purity resins. Improved quality of resins, environmental issues and higher prices for virgin resin will contribute to growth.

Packaging is expected to be the largest market segment for recycled plastics, with sheet and lumber following. Surveys indicate that Americans are increasingly willing to collect and separate discarded packages, foregoing a degree of convenience to make products more disposable, and even paying a premium for a recycled item.

Increasingly, communities are refusing to consider incineration until every effort is made first to recycle; public sentiment is strongly in favor of products that can be recycled or are made of recycled materials.  In recent years, the household recycling rate of PET bottles has more than doubled to 30% of all PET soft drink bottles sold.  In fact, PET’s recycling rate is the fastest growing among all beverage containers. The future of PET recycling is even brighter than it has been in the past. PET intrinsic scrap value is second only to aluminium among container materials. The plastics industry has launched a research and development program aimed at increasing PET recycling. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), plastic soft drink bottles account for approximately 2% of the solid waste discarded in America. The EPA has set a national goal to recycle 25% of the municipal solid waste stream and the industry is committed to achieving its share of that important goal. 

The recycling industry intends to accelerate the rate of plastic recycling as part of its commitment to develop solutions to the solid waste problem. Industry analysts have projected that 50% of all PET containers will be recycled by the year 2007. More plastics will be recycled annually than any other recyclable material. Replay believes a significant answer to America’s waste problem lies in creating high value, recycled thermoformable sheet and other extruded products for the packaging market.

Although more than 200 million pounds of PET post-consumer materials are collected in the western United States each year, there is presently no local cleaning and refining facility converting the bottles into resins suitable for re-manufacturing. Originally, recycled PET (RPET) was used primarily in the carpet fiber industry, which is located along the eastern seaboard. The early development of the RPET industry was therefore focused in the eastern USA, with eastern states adopting the first bottle deposit laws that resulted in collection of post-consumer bottles that can be recycled. Recently, California, Oregon and Washington have adopted bottle deposit programs, and accumulation of recyclable materials in those states has begun. With all of the cleaning and recycling plants and the majority of consumers traditionally located in the eastern part of the country, development of consumers of recycled flake and down-line products, such as film and sheet, has been slow to develop in the West. A strong demand for post-consumer bottles from Asia has prevented the buildup of inventories and reduced the pressure for the collection industry to find or develop western markets. 

There is currently no independent extrusion plant of recycled polyterephthalate (PET) sheet in the western United States or Canada that services the roll stock requirements of major custom and proprietary formers. With the development of the recycling industry for PET starting in the eastern part of the country, and the preponderance of consumers of sheet there as well, development of independent extrusion facilities using RPET has been slow to develop. It appears that in order to attract such companies, local sources of RPET would have to available. While there are customers in the West for the products, contracting a supply and shipping it from the East makes the venture unattractive.

Our founders recognize that an opportunity exists and propose a vertically integrated conversion facility that will employ state-of-the-art technologies to produce extruded sheet and high strength strapping from 100% recycled PET post-consumer bottle stock, cleaned and refined in our own facility.

4.1 Target Market Segment Strategy

The Company has chosen its target markets because recycled PET (RPET) is in high demand as flake resin by converters,  as roll stock sheet used to produce high visibility packaging and as high strength strapping for the lumber industry.  Sales are price-sensitive, so that proximity to markets and feed stock source provide a competitive edge. Replay Plastics identified an opportunity to take advantage of both circumstances in the western United States.

RPET Flake

Total market demand is reported as 1.2 billion pounds per year. Since only 800 million pounds are processed in the USA, consumers are forced to look at wide spec virgin PET (virgin resin that is outside of spec but still usable) which is normally sold at a discount to virgin prices, but still higher than recycled (RPET) pricing. Some manufacturers are also forced to import materials from Mexico, India and South America. Some converters are being forced to use more expensive virgin resin.

The current pricing for virgin resin is $0.65-0.73 per lb. and $0.42-.53 for RPET flake.  The spread between the two has traditionally been maintained at approximately $0.20 per lb.

PET Film & Sheet

The total reported market of extruded film and sheet is 872 million pounds, of which identified industry usage of RPET is 160 million pounds.

The reported market demand (to replace virgin PS, PVC and PET) if RPET was available is estimated at 1 billion pounds.

Current pricing for RPET sheet is $0.70-0.79 per lb.

RPET Strapping

The total reported domestic plastic strapping market is 240 million pounds. Of this market, industry usage of virgin polypropylene is 132 million pounds and of PET is 108 million pounds.  

It is generally accepted in the industry that less expensive strapping made from RPET could not only take over the polypropylene strapping market, but convert as much of the much larger and more expensive steel strapping market as RPET strapping was available.

Current pricing for RPET strapping is $0.90 -1.08 per lb.

Market Segmentation

The primary market can be broken down as follows.

Consumers of PET in:

• California: 62
• Oregon: 8
• Washington: 9

Consumers of HDPE in:

• California: 73
• Oregon: 10
• Washington: 12

All information is based on industry research,and data provided by the American Plastics Council.

Competition

Current alternatives

Currently in the western United States, there is no direct competition for cleaning and refining post-consumer or post-industrial PET. Nor is there any non-captive extrusion of roll stock sheet.

The extruded sheet required by thermoformers is currently supplied by:

• Advance Extrusion, Becker, MN
• Kama, Pittsburgh, PA
• Plasti-Shell Packaging, Gonzales, LA
• Petco, Montreal, Canada
• Klockner, VA

In a news release dated September 10, 2004, Itec Environmental Group, Inc. announced their intention to open a PET and High Density Polyethelene (HDPE) recycling operation in Riverbank, CA (east of San Francisco). The news release states that the Company’s new and yet unproven technology lets it work with bottle streams that others have to reject as too dirty. This Company is familiar to our Management, and is not considered a significant factor in any of our markets.

Our advantages

Replay Plastics’ competitive edge rests with its proximity to its target markets, as well as the industry knowledge, reputation and contacts of its senior management. Their many years of direct experience have led them to identify this unique opportunity and put together the technology and sources to take advantage of it. Their reputation in the specific market segment will result in the achievement of long-term commitments for our production. The biggest competitive edge is we have consumers who have promised to buy all the product that we produce. 

Keys to Success

Keys to Success

Keys to Success: 

• Secure Supply- Contract for supply of post-consumer bottles and post-industrial manufacturing waste for PET raw material feed stock.
• Marketing –  Contractual arrangements for the sale of virtually all initial production.
• Management – Strong senior management with extensive, broad-based, industry-specific experience.

1.4 Potential Risks

Unavailable or scarce raw material feed stock for production

• Replay is confident that it has secured good availability of low cost post-consumer PET bottles (feed stock) derived from post-consumer beverage bottles from California based recycling collectors, and has back up sources identified.

Technology employed may be unreliable or unproven

• Replay will use a proven, patented technology that was developed by one of its principals for the cleaning and recycling phase. The extrusion division will employ commercially proven technology – the industry is employing unique recycled PET technology which is used by prominent eastern U.S. manufacturers of PET extrusions.

There may not be a market for the Company’s products

• The Industry-wide experience of the Management Team has allowed them to identify markets for the Company’s products. Their expertise and reputations have allowed them to obtain commitments for virtually all of the planned initial production. 

The location may not be near enough to markets

• The markets that have been identified are primarily in the western U.S., which will provide a distinct advantage to the Company because of freight costs and delivery timing.

The Company may not be able to attract top management 

• The Company has assembled a world class management team with proven ability and direct experience in the Company’s market segments.

Company may not meet environmental standards

• This environmentally-favorable venture provides for the development of technically feasible and economically viable solutions to PET plastic beverage bottle recycling, as well as environmentally aware in-house re-use practices which filter and return nearly all of the process water to the production lines.

The Company may not be able to sell all of its production capability

• Through the Senior Management’s industry-wide contacts, the Company has identified potential customers and received commitments for all of the production potential of the initial facility.    

 

Execution

Marketing & Sales

Marketing Plan

The Company has chosen to focus on the production of plastic packaging materials from recycled post-consumer beverage bottles. Because of the industry experience and expertise of the management, we have identified a significant available market in the western United States. All of our initial marketing strategy will be to secure contracts in that segment, and after reaching full planned capacity, look to grow in concert with that segment and related markets. We see little need at present for further market research and development, and will focus on continually updating our production technology in an effort to remain in the forefront of our chosen marketplace.

Sales Plan

Because of the unique extensive experience and reputation of our Management in the Company’s chosen industry segment, we are able to identify all of the potential customers for each of the products we will produce in our facility. While most of the production of flake is ultimately intended to be used internally, we are confident that any developed surplus will be sold immediately.

All of the production of the initial facility is committed for, and should there be any capacity not consumed by these commitments, once again we are confident that the contacts of our senior management will allow for the rapid sale of any such capacity.

If the Company grows faster than its prime customer base, additional capacity may be developed. Mr. Braddock’s many years of sales and sales development will be utilized to identify additional customers and/or sales agents currently servicing the Company’s target markets.

To market the products, the Company will use a number of sales agents/brokers well known to the founders from business transactions over more than 10 years. All of these seasoned veterans have a customer base of their own, having developed successful relationships with their clientele over the years. Their customer base is currently demanding product so they can expand upon their current base. Of course, they will expand that to new customers when product is available from Replay. Those agents are located in:

• Jacksonville, Florida

• Houston, Texas

• Chicago, Illinois

• Louisville, Kentucky

• Los Angeles, California

• Vancouver, British Columbia

As stated, Ben Braddock, himself, is a strong marketing individual. Over his 30 years of experience in the packaging and converting industry he has developed relationships with a number of clients that are buyers of packaging materials.  He has consulted to many and has been personally responsible for sourcing raw materials and converted sheet for customers in this industry.

Custom formers, extruders, laminators, and end user markets will be called upon by Ben and the sales agent team to promote and generate demand from those that buy and use RPET packaging materials.

Operations

Locations & Facilities

The Company will capitalize on the opportunities in the recycled resin and packaging markets through two main divisions: a Recycling Division and a Packaging Division.

Recycling Division

Using a patented process, the Company will create a PET cleaning and refining plant located in the western United States; we have chosen this region because all 16 major North American PET recycling plants are currently located in the eastern United States or Canada, despite western states’ favorable recycling attitudes among consumers. Its initial annual capacity will be 46 million pounds and it will utilize bottle feed stock from California, Oregon and Washington States, which collect over 200,000,000 pounds per year. The Company will become totally vertically integrated, and use all or almost all of its recycled material in its Packaging Division.  Any surplus material produced will be sold to outside companies.

Packaging Division

We will create a plant (actual facilities to be shared with the Recycling Division) to manufacture extruded plastic roll stock sheet or high-strength strapping, employing state-of-the-art technology developed to utilize recycled PET resin.

The extruded sheet will be primarily sold to thermoformers who will convert it into high visibility packaging, as well as laminators and fabricators. The strapping will be sold to commercial users for use as package or pallet strapping.

Technology

Sam McGuire, a key member of our Management team, is one of the original innovators of cleaning and refining technology for post-consumer PET, and we will be utilizing his patented process in our recycling facility. Sam has worked in the establishment and operation of facilities employing similar technologies over the last several years.

On the manufacturing side, Management has been an integral part of the advancement of industry practices over the last twenty years or so, and includes in their knowledge base most, if not all, of the state-of-the-art available equipment and manufacturing techniques.

Milestones & Metrics

Milestones Table

Key metrics

Key metrics: 

• Keep a close eye on supplies and suppliers. We need to operate at capacity at all times 
• tweets and retweets of our customers 
• # of customers 
• inventory turnover 
• best selling products and requests 
• very close eye on favorite products 

Company

Overview

Ownership & Structure

Replay Plastics is owned by the initial founders, B. Braddock, S. McGuire and C. Smith, who are the proposed three executives of the operating entity. The plan was conceived and developed by these individuals, with the intent to apply their extensive experience and contacts in the industry to building a successful profitable corporation.

Team

Management team

Ben Braddock, President and CEO, has a 30-year history of experience encompassing all aspects of Polymer Raw Material, Plastic Conversion Methods, and Venture Development. He founded Company C, a multi-cavity plastic injection molder container facility, and Company D, a solid phase pressure forming polypropylene (PP) food container facility. He also assisted in the launch of five plastic converting manufacturing plants.

For the last fifteen years Ben has been an independent consultant in the plastics industry. His clients have included [proprietary and confidential information removed].

Sam McGuire, Executive VP and COO, is a graduate engineer with over 20 years experience in the post-consumer plastics recycling industry and is the inventor of the primary recycling technology used in the process for this project. He has received a patent for his recycling technologies and has been directly involved in over twenty-five major post consumer plastics recycling  projects. Sam has played a major role in the design and manufacture of specific recycling equipment as well as playing a key management role in the design, construction, installation, commissioning and operation of several independent recycling businesses.

In 1998, Sam sold his interests in a medical waste treatment and plastics recycling business to a public company (Company A) based in Chicago. Since that time he has served as Vice President, International Business Development and Engineering for this Company. His primary responsibilities over the past five years have included: the rollout of the corporate business model to international countries; the licensing of intellectual property to joint venture companies; managing the design and construction of medical waste treatment and plastics recycling facilities and continuing business and technical support to the resulting joint venture businesses throughout the world.

In the past five years, Sam has successfully completed projects in Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Japan and Australia totaling over $100 Million in investment.

Carl R. Smith, CFO, has over 30 years of investment, merchant banking and management experience. He has assisted in raising over $500 million and served as board member and/or officer in over 40 public and private companies.

Carl is the former CEO of E Corporation, Ltd.,  a company manufacturing plastic injection molded products. Prior to 1993 he was a partner in two independent investment banking firms, Company F and Company G. During his time at Company G, more than $450 million was raised for client companies, and the assets grew to $50 million. Prior to forming Company G, Carl was a principal and manager of several operating companies in industries such as plastics, mining and oil and gas exploration.

 

Financial Plan

Forecast

Key assumptions

Key Assumptions: 

• Replay has allowed for 30 days to collect receivables due to knowledge and experience with customers in the industry.
• Inventory turnover is predicted at 12 times, which is extremely conservative.
• The personnel burden includes contribution by the Company to employee health care.
• We have allowed for Accounts Receivable financing of 70% at an interest rate of 12% per annum. 
• It is assumed that additional extrusion lines will be added in the second year, with down payments of 33% at time of order and balance paid at time of shipment (see Cash Flow for details). These will be purchased as long-term assets out of the cash flows of the business.
• General annual growth rates of 5% have been assumed on all sales prices and material and labor costs.

Revenue by Month

Expenses by Month

Net Profit (or Loss) by Year

Net Profit (or Loss) by Year

Use of funds

Our start-up expenses are budgeted at $210,000, which is mostly for on-site contractor services during facility preparation. $50,000 has been set aside for legal and accounting, $25,000 for special consulting that may be required during start up and $50,000 each for local engineering and lab equipment and supplies. $30,000 has been set aside as a contingency for the start up period.

Our largest Start-up Requirement is the building of the recycling and extrusion facility. Its final value at completion is listed below as a long-term asset of $3,620,000 (excluding expensed items like consultants and engineering listed above). Aside from the building itself, we need $25,000 in machinery and fixtures, $500,000 of inventory (plastic bottle feed stock) and cash to cover us through the initial year.

Start-up Expenses

Legal & Accounting $50,000

Stationery etc. $5,000

Consultants $25,000

Lab Equipment $50,000

Local Engineering $50,000

Misc Start up $30,000

TOTAL START-UP EXPENSES $210,000

Sources of Funds

We will get a $800,000 dollar loan against our 3 million dollars of assets. Our Founders will put up a total of $1.5 million dollars. We will also have a group of VC investors that will put up the 2.7 million dollars. This will give replay plastics the 4.2 million that it needs to start. 

Statements

Projected Profit and Loss

Projected Balance Sheet

Projected Cash Flow Statement