Rebranding seeks to shape the future of the industry

A lot has changed since the last edition of Plastics Recycling magazine. Most notably, in December our organization rebranded, introducing its new identity: The Plastics Industry Association, or Plastics for short. Our new name, logo and website all are designed to better reflect what we do to support the plastics industry and how we help our members shape the future and make a positive impact every day.

Specifically, Plastics helps businesses achieve sustainability goals by:

• promoting the use of recycled plastics in new products;
• educating companies about how to recycle more and make their products easier for consumers to recycle;
• demonstrating viable business models for collecting and recycling different types of plastic materials from locations such as offices and hospitals;
• incentivizing companies to eliminate waste and increase recycling;
• measuring the amount of wasted recyclable plastic material; and
• collaborating with organizations, including The Recycling Partnership, Keep America Beautiful, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Trash-Free Waters program and the Ocean Conservancy, to fight pollution and make recycling easier and more available.

We’re going to continue to grow and support sustainability in the industry and find new and exciting ways to make recycling easier. This renewed focus was a part of our decision to rebrand our organization and also drove us to develop our first-ever tag line: “Better Industry. Better World.” Those four words capture what so much of our industry’s story is based on: When you make the plastics industry stronger, you make the world stronger, too.

Plastics is happy to support Plastics Recycling magazine as a key part of our mission is to educate companies on how they can turn their waste into valuable resources or eliminate waste altogether. That’s why we created the Zero Net Waste (ZNW) program, which recognizes companies that take steps to drive toward zero net waste in manufacturing.

Using the ZNW tools, participants can divert up to 90 percent of their total waste away from the landfill, engage their employees in environmental efforts and avoid landfill costs while generating revenue through recycling. Participating companies demonstrate leadership in landfill diversion, waste reduction and most importantly their commitment to ensuring that valuable resources always go to their highest and best use. As a ZNW participant, they can broadcast those successes to their communities, employees and customers.

We hope you’ll join us in telling the plastics industry’s sustainability and recycling story and continue to help us drive the industry forward for decades to come.

Bill Carteaux is president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, Washington.