Introduction

Plastic recycling is getting more and more attention these days. This is due to heightened awareness around plastic pollution and contamination, but also because of large-scale shifts in policy by major world players in the recycled plastics market. In 2017, for example, China announced it would cease the import of plastics and other materials destined for its recycling processors. For decades, these facilities had dealt with almost half of the waste that the rest of the world considered to be “recyclable.”

So let’s take a look at the main features of the plastics recycling market and infrastructure in the US.

Recycling is Local and Decentralized

There are approximately 9,000 different consumer recycling programs in the US. While there are many similarities between them, and programs generally follow the same format (collection, sorting, washing, processing, and sale of recycled material to manufacturing enterprises), the different rules that apply for each program add generate significant confusion around recycling.

What’s recyclable, where, and what the average person needs to do to ensure that a recyclable piece of material enters the program correctly, are all issues that diminish the overall odds that a recyclable item will in fact be recycled. Communities and local governments play a large role as they set the rules for what is to be recycled, and what is not. The decentralized and diverse approaches make it difficult for programs to implement and scale, which are essential needs for the business of recycling. This contributes to the overall extremely low plastic recycling rates in the US, of less than 9%.

In addition to varying local rules for curbside recycling, the success of recycling programs depends on consumer behavior, community education, local infrastructure, and the initial design of the items that contain recyclable material.

Design Matters

A common myth in recycling is that “if only we all recycled more, everything would be better”. However, many products made of plastic are difficult or impossible to be recycled efficiently or at all. As a result, there is no recycling without proper design.

Typical plastic packaging for consumer goods, for example, is comprised of design features that include base resin, color, size & dimensions, closures/ dispensers labels as well as any adhesives and ink. All these features or components must be designed in such a way as to enable the item to be recycled after its use by the consumer.

“We designed our way into a waste system, we can design ourselves out of it" - Kate Davenport, Eureka Recycling

If an item is not designed properly, it could contaminate the feedstock of plastic materials when put through the sorting and separation process. In such instances, the entire bale of plastic materials may not be marketable and then just takes a very expensive trip to the landfill.

Not All Plastics Are Created Equal

One plastic can be different from another just like glass is different from aluminum. PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is very different than HDPE, which is very different than polystyrene, for example. Some plastics sink, while others float; some melt at higher temperatures, while some require lower temperatures for melting and recycling.

Because of this, specialized sorting infrastructure is needed after collection. This is to ensure that the right type of plastic is grouped in each category, before it enters the reprocessing phase and is used again in manufacturing.

That said, when it comes to recycling, the 80-20 rule applies, since 81% of consumer plastics packaging is in just three categories of resin: PET, HDPE, and PP, or polypropylene. In layman’s terms, that basically means soda bottles, laundry detergent jugs, and yogurt cups, respectively.

Of all these, PET is the most common and easily recyclable, with many recycling programs across the country dating back to the 1990s and thus benefitting from well-established practices. Polypropylene is among the newest material to be systematically recycled (and also the largest by volume, given that lawn chairs and furniture can be made of polypropylene), whereas other plastics are not easily recyclable and are not accepted in curbside recycling.

So a key insight to recognize is that recycling does not begin in the home. It begins in the product design phase. To enable the effort, the APR has prepared a design guide, which lists the features and specifications that make plastic packages likely to pass through the recycling process into the most appropriate material stream with the potential of producing high quality material.

There Must Be a Market - Otherwise It’s Trash

Recycled plastic reenters the manufacturing stream as PCR (Post-Consumer Resin, or Post-Consumer Recycled material).

Unfortunately, from a pricing standpoint, PCR often becomes prohibitively expensive when compared to virgin plastic. This is because of its path back to the market, which involves collection, sorting, processing, all typically done at the local MRF (Materials Recovery Facility).

Increased demand for PCR changes that dynamic, and puts pressure on brand companies to make their products and plastic packaging more easily recyclable. By easing the burden on the recycling chain, and enabling their products to be more easily recovered and recycled, they contribute to lowering their own materials input costs.

“Manufacturers and consumer brand companies need to understand they are their own material suppliers”. Steve Alexander, President and CEO APR

The demand for PCR by brand companies and manufacturers acts as a force for sustainability, as there are numerous benefits of using PCR vs virgin plastic: for example, PCR only requires 13-17% of the energy used of creating virgin plastic. Energy savings come in addition to the reduction in carbon, and not using irreplaceable energy sources.

Manufactures have specialized and now need a consistent supply of post-consumer product; they can’t just switch to virgin plastic, if there is insufficient supply. For example, long term contracts to acquire PCR are critical for a company like Nestle that does a lot of packaging.

So as demand grows, due to manufacturers’ own sustainability-related goals or policy-mandated PCR-minimum thresholds in materials use (more on this below), supply needs to also increase to meed that demand. To increase supply, consumers must be trained and more participation is needed in collection programs.

Another method to increase supply is EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), and legislative initiatives and rules such as ‘bottle deposits’. These help with supply as it motivates consumers to bring back the item to the manufacturer after use.

Policy Helps - A Lot

The marketplace by itself is not sufficient to create standardization: policy is really important. It is a way to scale up what is working on the ground and provides long-term support.

Recently there has been increased and renewed activity in this space, with several states such as Washington, California, Colorado, Maine, and New Jersey leading the way with legislative initiatives such as requiring minimum recycled content (PCR) be present in newly manufactured packaging and plastic products.

Importantly, policy measures work together, like mandating minimum PCR thresholds to stimulate demand, and introducing EPR to increase supply. A good guide to the ongoing bills is on the Sustainable Packaging Coalition website, that tracks up-to-date and latest developments in this field.

State law addressing plastics recycling takes the burden off local governments, and it is an effective tool already used in other parts of the world like Canada or in Europe. As a result, more states are considering it, and we may even see the emergence of a federal bill that would tackle plastics recycling at a national level.

Conclusion

Overall, for plastic recycling to be successful, an item must be designed to be recyclable, collected through a consistent collection program, then sorted and processed properly. After that, the last and important step is the existence of a robust market for the material as it reenters the manufacturing chain.

All these pieces work together: design, policy, consumer behavior, market forces to help us toward a circular economy that is less wasteful and better for the environment.

Sources:

1. “Recycled Content” podcast episodes 2020 - 2023, hosted by the APR - Association of Plastics Recyclers.

2. "Plastic Recycling: A Beginner Course", Udemy.com course by Ololade Olatunji, University Lecturer and Chemical Engineer; Author of Natural Polymers, Industry Technique and Applications - Springer 2016