What do coal, wood pellets, and non-recyclable packaging by-product have in common? They are all sources of energy. Interestingly, two of the three create energy that is defined as renewable. My reference to non-recyclable by-product refers to “the stuff” we generate in enormous volumes from our industry. 

Here’s a quick fact: In 2023, the US generated about 350 million tons of MSW (municipal solid waste). Packaging, both paper and film, make up 35-40% of MSW, or about 130 million tons. While a large percentage of that is recyclable, a fair amount isn’t and it’s probably co-mingled. It’s coated, treated, and/or laminated paper and film.

There are all kinds of energy sources. Some are clean, some dirty, some renewable, some not. The cleanest, of course, are hydro and nuclear.

Hydro’s the very best, in my view, but we only capture a small percentage of what’s available for energy. And droughts don’t help.  (Note the problem in recent years with a dwindling water supply in Lake Mead that feeds the Hoover Dam project.)

Nuclear energy, which is man-made, is clean and seems to be having a rebirth because of unparalleled growth in energy demand caused by AI. But, we still have the waste issue. Until that’s solved, nuclear is suspect. (Remember Three Mile Island).

I happen to believe that using non-recyclables from packaging as a feedstock for energy is grossly underutilized. As I continue this column, I’ll do my best to make a case for using these materials, above all others, as unmatched for producing renewable energy. However, there’s an elephant in the room: wood pellets, and plenty of ‘em!

Did you know that the European Union considers wood pellets as a source for renewable energy? Did you know that even though the United Kingdom voted to withdraw from the EU, that it follows many of its regulations and guidelines, e.g., the UK considers wood pellets an acceptable source for renewable energy? Did you know that the United Kingdom was one of the first countries to use coal fired energy to power light? Thomas Edison’s coal plant lit London in 1882. Finally, did you know that the UK is now “officially” coal-free? 

After 142 years of burning coal, the Brits have made good on a pledge they made in 2015 to phase out coal by 2025! Actually, they are not the first OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) country to do this. They are following Belgium, Austria, Sweden, and Portugal that achieved coal-free status years ago.

How did the UK do it? How did all those countries do it?  By using wood pellets harvested here in the US. To be sure, they converted from coal to wood pellets in phases, over the last 10 years.

In the UK, Drax, the largest supplier of electricity in Great Britain, saw a commitment to switch to wood pellets as a way to not only meet renewable regulations, but also allowed them a significant cost savings. By using wood pellets, they could use existing boilers without a huge retrofitting cost. Moving forward, in their commitment to wood pellets, Drax, and other utilities in Europe and the UK, made significant investments that would guarantee supply. The investments included the infrastructure to handle enormous volumes such as: deep sea ports for shipping from the US and unloading in the UK; dedicated rail tracks from origins in the US to the point of consumption in England; processing and pelletizing, etc. 

I remember reading and sharing with you a wonderful Elizabeth Kolbert essay on all of this, sharing her wit and cynicism and excellent prose on the Drax journey from coal to pellet.  Her writing is brilliant!

The one point that escapes all of this, including Elizabeth’s colorful expose, is that Drax and the others are plundering our natural resources. Why are we letting outsiders use our natural resources, our feedstocks for renewable energy? Why aren’t we committed to the same journey? Well, we all know the answer, even my favorite British scribe who lives in France.  The answer, of course, is MONEY. 

The tree barons now control millions of acres of timber land. They are cutting our trees to meet their renewable energy requirements. Millions and millions of tons of wood pellets are being manufactured and shipped as renewable energy to foreigners. I’m sorry, I don’t like it. Unlike Elizabeth, I’m not questioning the integrity of Drax or the validity of their story. I’m not questioning their commitment to reforestation, or whether they use the whole tree to make pellets (of course they do, this ain’t about branches). I’m questioning why we Americans have lost control. I’m questioning why we don’t do this, too, here in the US, on a large commercial scale.

Oh, and what about the loss of sequestering CO2 that those trees represent? What about that angle? That’s a whole different piece. The bottom line – shipping wood pellets out of the US stinks! Okay, that’s my rub on the pellet saga here in the US.

Sadly, we’re missing a wonderful resource that can be used as feedstock for energy:  non-recyclable packaging by-product. For the most part, these potential feedstocks are being thrown away. Not only is this expensive, but we are contributing to one of the most odious of gases, methane.

The roadblocks to waste diversion from the landfill are many, but slowly they are disappearing:

• First of all, you can’t call yourself sustainable if you’re throwing packaging substrates away. Very simply, there are two streams, three if you want to separate paper and film – recyclables and non-recyclables.
• Second, the cost to throw away is becoming more and more expensive. The US average tip fee is now over $60.00/ton. That’s just the tip fee (landfill charge). It does not include transportation, rental fees, environmental taxes, etc. All in, the average total cost per ton is close to $100.
• Third, EPR is now legislated in five states and there are 19 other states where diversion is at the committee stage. It’s coming. Landfill is not an option with EPR legislation.
• Fourth, you cannot meet an audit for achieving sustainability goals if you do not have a waste diversion program.
• Fifth, your customers want their vendors to “do the right thing,” to have sustainability goals.

If we go back to the theme of this column, sources of energy, I am sure you will conclude with me that non-recyclable packaging by-product is a more logical and ecological solution than wood pellets. Wood pellets have a place but not in commercial solid fuel boilers.  The replacement for coal is not wood but engineered fuel made from non-recyclables such as matrix, flexible packaging, wax coated corrugated, nonwovens and polyurethane used in wound care packaging, to name just a few. These feedstocks, when engineered properly, generate twice the caloric value of wood pellets, another reason to support this concept.

Trust me, there’s plenty of stuff for diversion into energy. That’s how I see it down here.

Another Letter From the Earth.


Calvin Frost is chairman of Channeled Resources Group, headquartered in Chicago, the parent company of Maratech International and GMC Coating. His email address is [email protected].


Yerecic Label wins 2024 Calvin Frost Elevation Sustainability Award
Yerecic Label has announced that is has been awarded the 2024 Calvin Frost Elevation Sustainability Award by TLMI. The award recognizes Yerecic Label as an industry leader in sustainability, highlighting the Pennsylvannia converter’s fully formed and publicly stated sustainability goals, strategies, and executions that are advancing multiple aspects of sustainability.

In line with this achievement, Yerecic Label has announced a formal transition to a wash-away adhesive for appropriate film pressure sensitive label constructions applied to PET that has been formally recognized by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), a change designed to enhance its commitment to sustainability and improve the recyclability of food grade PET products.


“This transition is a game-changer for our customers and for the environment. We’re offering a solution that boosts recycling efficiency without compromising label performance,” says Jon Boyer, Yerecic Label’s VP of purchasing and product development. “It’s innovations like these that help us continue to be leaders in both quality and sustainability.”

Elizabeth Yerecic Freedman, co-owner and EVP of sales and sustainability, notes, “This transition reflects our dedication to move the needle on Design for Recycling, making these material selections the expectation when specifying labels to be applied to PET packaging. This change not only aligns with our sustainability goals but also simplifies the material specification process for our customers.”

“APR congratulates Yerecic Label for receiving the Calvin Frost Sustainability Award and taking action to improve the recyclability of their packaging,” says Steve Alexander, APR president and CEO. “Yerecic Label not only took the steps to receive APR Design Recognition for their labels but also transitioned to using adhesives that have been formally recognized. Collaborative efforts like this lead to less waste, more efficient use of limited natural resources, and more high-quality post-consumer resin (PCR) for new products.”