ICYMI: Plastics News Features Recycling Op-ed by PLASTICS’ CEO Matt Seaholm

Washington D.C.— Plastics News has featured an op-ed written by Plastics Industry Association’s President and CEO, Matt Seaholm. The piece highlights Recycling Week, underscores the significant strides the plastics industry has made in promoting recycling, and outlines steps for furthering progress.

Read the full op-ed.

As we celebrate National Recycling Week and America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, we're all eager to remind the public of the critical role recycling plays in a sustainable world. As an industry, we are working alongside our partners to make plastics more recyclable and to educate people on the importance of daily recycling.

We are making progress, but the reality is, America's recycling rates still aren't where they need to be. So, what's it going to take?

We know the numbers. A recent study shows the projected national recycling average is low, with some states lagging behind: five states have residential recycling rates below 10 percent, while only four states have rates above 30 percent.

Eleven states are even reported to lose over 1 million tons of valuable recyclables annually. The recycling and plastics industries have made real progress to show the possibilities behind advancing recycling, but there's more we can — and must — do to help move these numbers up.

For one, we need to acknowledge the challenges with today's recycling infrastructure. Packaging has evolved to better protect food, beverages and other products, and materials have become more innovative — that's what engineers in our industry work towards every day. Yet, many of the recycling systems designed decades ago just aren't built to handle the diversity of products on the market today. If we're going to truly change recycling in America, it's going to take collaboration, not only within the industry but also with policymakers who oversee infrastructure across the country.

We should also make recycling goals about more than just the amount of material collected. Let's focus on achieving greater circularity by fostering innovative advances and technologies. The plastics industry has already invested over $8 billion in innovative recycling technologies and facilities. For instance, advanced recycling technologies can now handle items that traditional recycling can't, like chip bags, medical packaging and food-contaminated packaging. By investing in these technologies, we're helping to ensure that more materials are kept in circulation, ensuring the materials that can't be economically recycled through traditional methods are still recoverable, moving us closer to a circular economy — and effectively reducing waste, supporting a sustainable future.

Recycling can't just be left to industry alone. It's a shared responsibility that involves everyone. We call on all stakeholders to work together. That's why we're advocates for thoughtfully crafted extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs that will direct resources to the places that need them most, helping local governments and communities upgrade their recycling systems so they can handle a broader range of materials. We need to work alongside lawmakers to craft policies that benefit everyone — policies that make sense, are practical in application and make a real difference.

For recycling to work better and for recycling rates to go up, the material needs to be more valuable. That means we need strong and stable markets for recycled materials. Ideally, consumers should push the companies they are buying from to use recycled content in their products. But lawmakers can help boost the value of this recyclable material as well by supporting feasible recycled content requirements in things like packaging. By establishing these thresholds, they would be creating guaranteed end-markets for recycled plastics, making it more economically viable to keep materials in circulation and incentivizing investment in recycling innovations. When companies have a reliable market for recycled materials, they're more likely to use them, and recycling facilities are more likely to expand and innovate. By keeping more plastics in the loop, we're reducing the need for new, virgin materials, which not only conserves resources but also brings us closer to a truly circular economy.

Consumers play a big role, and we need to assure them that properly disposing of recyclable materials means they'll actually transform into new products. Education is key. Our "Recycling is Real" campaign has shown recycling in action, which is essential to building trust in the process and combating false claims that recycling is a myth. Public confusion around how and where to recycle flexible film products like plastic bags, wraps, and other thin plastics led us to create the Flexible Film Recycling Alliance (FFRA) to increase flexible film recycling rates and to provide clear guidance to consumers.

National Recycling Week and America Recycles Day serve as reminders that there is more to be done to reach our shared recycling goals. We're proud of the steps our industry has already taken, from investing in new technologies to advocating for sound policies, but we all recognize that more work lies ahead.

We're committed to supporting policies that make a real impact, and to working with others to keep plastic out of the environment and in the economy. Together, by supporting modern recycling infrastructure, embracing innovative technologies, and working to educate policymakers and the public, our industry can make recycling in America stronger, more efficient, and more accessible.