Sharing responsibility

In October, Greenpeace USA issued a report, “Circular Claims Fall Flat Again,” concluding that most plastic generated in the U.S. cannot be recycled. However, the numbers used in the Greenpeace report, as well as those used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to calculate the annual U.S. plastic recycling rate, have been called into question by The Recycling Partnership and the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), which note the denominators used to calculate these figures misrepresent the situation.

The Recycling Partnership and the APR have pointed out that the EPA and the Greenpeace report do not consider the durable and nondurable goods that are not designed for recycling in their denominators.

Steve Alexander, president of APR, says plastic consumer packaging, which is made mostly of polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene and polypropylene, has a 21 percent recycling rate. “Reclaimers currently have the capacity to double that number. They need more supply. Misleading reports like this, which can discourage consumers from recycling, are not only destructive to our communities but also to the environment and the economy,” he says.

“While it’s important to consider the data used to calculate recycling rates, I think we can agree that the recycling rate for plastic packaging must be better.”

The Recycling Partnership hosted a webinar in late October, shortly after the Greenpeace report was issued, that addressed the EPA’s plastics recycling figure.

The organization’s CEO Keefe Harrison said better recycling data are needed, adding that the EPA data we have currently—from 2018—reflect historical outcomes, though the situation has changed considerably in the last four years. “Historical data can be confusing for how it informs us for the future,” she said.

While it’s important to consider the data used to calculate recycling rates, I think we can agree the recycling rate for plastic packaging should be better. But the same thing can be said for the wide array of consumer packaging, which is why The Recycling Partnership has released its five-point plan to fix the U.S. recycling system, which includes ensuring household access to recycling, educating the public on what’s recyclable in their communities, designing packaging for circularity, supporting policy that helps to fund a better recycling system and investing in recycling systems by using policy that enables private-public partnerships.

If companies are going to honor their pledges to use more recycled content in the products and packaging, we each have a role to play to ensure the circularity of these materials.