PLASTICS: A look at Recycling Open House 2022

PLASTICS recently hosted its annual, virtual Recycling Open House. This year, eight organizations joined PLASTICS to share their latest recycling initiatives and innovations. Andy Brewer, Associate Director of Sustainability and Materials for PLASTICS, started things off with an update on the association’s New End Market Opportunities (NEMO) initiative that explores new ways of using recycled content and recycling hard-to-recycle material:

End-of-Life Vehicle Bumper Program: With Ultra-Poly Corp., PLASTICS demonstrated the viability of collecting and recycling thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) bumpers.

Plastic to Asphalt: With the National Center for Asphalt Technology, furthered the exploration of using post-consumer recycled PE films (e.g.,  grocery bags) as polymer additives in asphalt.

Food Contact Polypropylene: Rigorous research, reporting and pilot projects are planned with the goal of returning recycled PP back into food-grade applications.

Here’s a look at some of what other organizations shared:

Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR)

APR Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability: A comprehensive resource for measuring each package design against industry-accepted criteria to ensure that it is truly recycling compatible.

APR PCR Certification Program: Businesses involved in reclaiming plastics can choose from multiple APR-endorsed certification companies to conduct an independent audit.

APR Recycling Demand Champions Campaign: A program designed to drive end-market demand for PCR and recognize companies for their increased investment in PCR-containing products.

Resource Recycling Systems (RRS)

PET Thermoform Potential Pathways to Increased Recovery: Research into material volumes in the marketplace, current recovery pathways, relative costs and trade-offs for potential pathways to increased recovery.

Requirements for Plastic Goods and Packaging: With Ocean Conservancy, RRS produced a report reviewing the current plastic recycling landscape and evaluating several policy scenarios.

US & Canada Recycling Infrastructure and Plastic Waste Map: Supported Closed Loop Partners’ interactive, data visualization tool that breaks down the volumes of plastics by type and the flows by country, state and province.

The Recycling Partnership

Center for Sustainable Behavior and Impact: Designed for measurable improvement in residential recycling, improved recycling, bolstering programs and advanced circularity.

Circular Economy Accelerator: 30-company problem-solving task force informing and advocating for attainable policy and legislative solutions that rapidly advance the circular economy.

Circular Packaging Assessment Tool: Step-by-step instructions for understanding and evaluating packaging, identifying challenges to achieving the circular system of the future.

Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE)

In-person Learning: SPE hosts an annual technical conference, ANTEC, for industry professionals, academics and college-level students.

Publications: SPE publishes several academic journals, Plastics Engineering magazine and maintains an online technical library with over 13,000 entries.

SPE Foundation: The Foundation funds educational programs, grants and scholarships emphasizing science, engineering, sustainability and manufacturing; works for inclusive opportunities worldwide.

American Chemistry Council

Secondary Sortation: As the Northeast region considers a range of options, including policies, to increase recovery and close the loop on plastics, the ACC sought to answer the question of how secondary sorting of materials-recovery facility (MRF) residuals might help accomplish these goals in a report on a sample of 6 MRFs in the region.

Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC)

Chemical Recycling Collaborative: A stakeholder group exploring the landscape of chemical recycling technologies and how they fit into the circular economy.

Flexible Packaging Recovery Collaborative: Addresses challenges in the design, collection, sortation, processing and end markets for flexible packaging.

Next Markets Collaborative: Works to identify and expand markets for hard-to-recycle plastics.

Vinyl Sustainability Council

+Vantage Vinyl Sustainability Standard: Allows companies to verify the sustainability of their operations in alignment with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria.

Construction Recycling: Partners with the CFFA Vinyl Roofing Division and the Vinyl Siding Institute to implement pilot post-consumer recycling programs.

Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC)

Advanced Recycling of Healthcare Plastics: An Opportunity for Circularity – Overview of the advanced recycling industry, presenting insights on opportunities for healthcare plastics.

HPRC HospiCycle Tool Kit: Step-by-step guide for hospitals looking to start or expand a plastics recycling program.

Design Guidance:  Best practices for manufacturers in designing products and packaging to enable recycling.