Helping brands make a PCR push

Though some large consumer brands with recycled-content packaging goals will fall short of their 2025 targets, there is no denying the continued interest in making progress, according to several representatives of the plastic packaging supply chain.

Speaking during a session focused on packaging design and material selection at the AMI Plastics World Expo in Cleveland in November, Zach Muscato, corporate sustainability manager at Cross Plains, Wisconsin-based Plastic Ingenuity, said his company continues to work with those brands.

“If anything, we’re seeing an uptick the last couple of years as we head into 2025,” he said. “Likely, they will fall short, but I don’t see anything stopping progress.”

“What’s holding brands back from adopting more PCR into their packaging? It’s design aspects and things like that, but, ultimately, it comes down to price volatility and concerns about long-term supply.” – Zach Muscato, corporate sustainability manager, Plastic Ingenuity

Muscato was joined by Treijon Johnson, sustainability director at Sugar Land, Texas-based Accredo Packaging, and Scott Saunders, general manager at Troy, Alabama-based KW Plastics. All three noted their companies’ recent investments to upgrade their recycling facilities to increase their production capacity or purchased assets that would allow for increased recycled content usage.

“I think it helps that [brands] are willing to have that conversation [about using more PCR],” Saunders said. “Eight, nine years ago, there was no conversation. [Now,] you must design packaging for your future raw material, not just to advertise and sell your product.”

To help these brands, each panelist developed a design-for-recyclability mindset. Muscato and Johnson pointed to guidelines created by the Association of Plastic Recyclers, Washington, as a useful tool. Muscato noted all packaging his company produces goes through a design-for-recycling assessment before it’s sent to a customer for review, for example.

Additionally, Plastic Ingenuity works with customers to ensure they select packaging material that already has robust recycling streams, such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene or polypropylene, along with considering other aspects, such as size and color.

Even amid the hope for brand progress, plastics recyclers have faced global struggles for a variety of reasons, including unfavorable recycled resin pricing compared with virgin resin. Along with the need for increased collection to get more material into the recycling stream, the panelists suggested building more long-term partnerships with brands to ensure landing spots for PCR.

“What’s holding brands back from adopting more PCR into their packaging? It’s design aspects and things like that, but, ultimately, it comes down to price volatility and concerns about long-term supply,” Muscato said. “I think it’s an opportunity where converters, recyclers and brands can come together and [decide what works for all parties]. How do we share risk and remove volatility?”