MRFnxtgen® Forum
Welcome to the REMADE-Sustainable Packaging Coalition MRFnxtgen® online portal!
Overview
REMADE’s MRFnxtgen® initiative aims to revolutionize materials recovery and the U.S. recycling system, double material recovery and recycling rates, and recirculate valuable materials back into the U.S. supply chain. The current recycling rate is estimated at only 36%!
Goals
- Identify market-based needs for secondary materials including polymers, metals, and fibers (paper and textiles) that are not presently supplied by the existing recycling infrastructure.
- Develop technology focused supply chain strategies that will result in the increased recovery and recycling of those materials.
- Identify & address economic challenges to ensure that each stakeholder in the supply chain is incentivized to engage in the supply and demand for materials of interest.
Priority Projects
In February 2026, REMADE and SPC hosted a MRFnxtgen® virtual workshop with over 20 companies participating. 3 projects were voted on by attendees as priorities and informed from pre-workshop survey responses on technical challenges.
Please review the priority project breakout group notes and add feedback.
Additional projects were also identified however breakout groups were not formed for projects that didn’t secure top 3 votes. Feel free to comment on those projects, regardless if they didn’t receive top 3 votes.
This is a moderated forum for REMADE and SPC members only. With that in mind, please refrain from using any vulgarity, spamming, or posting any links to external websites. Any individuals that do so will not have their comment(s) posted. Repeat offenders will be banned from the system. Also, please refrain from using this platform for commercial advertising.
Thank you!
Priority Projects
Project 1:
Develop Realtime Data-Informed Process Control to Minimize Losses
- Target Material: All input
- Core Development: Real-time data and capture utilization
- Overall Goal: Use A.I. and process data to control operations, minimize losses, increase output quality
Project 2:
Develop & Implement A.I. Sortation for Separation & Recovery of All Forms of Packaging
- Target Material: Packaging materials (e.g. blister packs, laminated paper, fluid containers, pressurized can sprays)
- Core Development: A.I. implementation for non-homogenous packaging materials
- Overall Goal: Increased recovery via computational sortation of complex packaging materials
Project 3:
Traceability & Chain of Custody
- Target Material: All in-put
- Core Development: RFID tag, digital watermark, or something scannable
- Overall Goal: Identifying what materials are being processed nationally vs internationally, as to ensure that the bales make it to a responsible end market
Project 4:
Develop & Implement A.I. Sortation for Recovery of Alternative PET Products by Product Type & Color
- Target Material: Bottles and thermoforms
- Core Development: A.I. sortation for recovery
- Overall Goal: Increased type and color sortation to homogenize output bales for better recovery
Project 5:
Identify & Validate Markets for Alternative PET Products
- Target Material: Thermoforms
- Core Development: Market validation and identification
- Overall Goal: Securing end usage for sorted alternative PET products
Project 6:
Develop High-yield Aluminum Melt Technology for Recovery of Organically Contaminated Aluminum Foils
- Target Material: Organically contaminated aluminum foils
- Core Development: High-yield melt technologies
- Overall Goal: Increased recovery of food-soiled aluminum foils