The lesson is that tariffs are disruptive, but
savvy business leaders can adapt, given time.
But that is not the complete answer. When plastics processors need a particular piece of mission-essential equipment that must be imported because it is not made here, there needs to be a mechanism that provides relief from an expensive tariff. Why cause a processor to lose business because of an onerous tax? Nothing is gained.
Overhaul of the plastics recycling system. There was a possibility that the international Plastics Treaty would have provided a framework for the entire recycling value chain, from the bin on your curb to the recycled resin going back into a useful product. But the treaty did not happen.
Instead, we are left with a hodge-podge of local regulations and non-regulations, no roadmap to guide investment and uncertainty about what comes next.
Meanwhile, the anti-plastics drumbeat is getting louder and louder.
Everyone in the plastics industry would benefit from a comprehensive, national plan that lays out goals, steps to get there and funding to make it happen. Recyclers have shown they can do their part, but the rest of the system is broken.
A good plan could go a long way to quiet the anti-plastics rhetoric.
Recycled content laws. This is actually part of the overhaul of the plastics recycling system, but I wanted to separate it because I think it is critical.
A major problem with the plastics recycling value chain is that prices for virgin resins are low. Processors and OEMs are reluctant to voluntarily use recycled material when it adds cost. Resin manufacturers have become very efficient at making huge amounts of resin at low prices, so the price penalty for recycled resin is not going to fix itself.
Minimum recycled resin content policies — on a national level — would help significantly.
