APR launches new digital tool for design guide

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Washington, has launched what it says is a new and improved APR Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability digital tool to commemorate its 30th anniversary. The design guide exists to help companies measure each aspect of a package design against industry-accepted criteria to ensure it truly is compatible with the recycling system.

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The APR says the digital tool brings an enhanced user experience with new capabilities and features to expand its reach and impact. A number of key updates and improvements have been made:

• an upgraded platform with simplified, user-friendly navigation;
• filters to quickly locate specific design guidance;
• customizable views providing simple summaries, with options to expand for more technical detail;
• embedded, contextually relevant links to recommended next steps such as APR Design Recognized solutions, testing protocols and resource documents;
• convenient links to easily forward essential guidance to colleagues; and
• a time-stamped change log to provide transparency, credibility and a quick way to monitor updates.

The organization also has updated its full website to make it easier to find important resources and tools for stakeholders across the plastics recycling value chain and beyond. The updated site includes a policy hub, an academic library linking to key research on plastics recycling and a searchable database with filters to find podcasts, blogs, articles and more by topic.

“We are proud to commemorate 30 years of the APR Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability,” APR President and CEO Steve Alexander says. “With extended producer responsibility and mandated PCR [postconsumer resin] legislation taking effect across the U.S., continued negotiations toward a global plastics treaty, as well as PCR and sustainability commitments coming due on the near horizon, this new and improved digital tool could not have launched at a more important time.”

Partnering for plastics recycling solutions

Recently, the APR and Canada’s Circular Plastics Taskforce (CPT) announced a partnership to improve North American plastics recycling systems through pilot and research projects. The organizations share the common goal of enhancing plastics recycling capacities through better packaging design and technology improvements.

Through their partnership, they say they will take meaningful steps to develop solutions that maximize the volumes of all plastics that can be recycled and increase the use of recycled plastics in products.

“The Circular Plastics Taskforce is helping to develop and implement sortation and recycling solutions in Canada for hard-to-recycle plastics in the context of extended producer responsibility programs across the country,” Alexander says. “APR’s tools and resources are the starting point for enabling compatibility between package designs and the recycling infrastructure. By leveraging each organization’s strengths, we will help achieve an effective and robust plastics recycling system in Canada and beyond.”

The CPT says it focuses on a better alignment between market needs and the recycling value chain to propose concrete solutions to optimize plastics management in a circular economy. It brings together industry leaders to evaluate and improve recovery and recycling of postconsumer plastics collected from Canadian households.

Since its inception, the CPT says its collaborative approach has attracted support from government and industry partners across North America.

“Our common goal is to increase the use of recycled content in plastic packaging,” says Marie-Anne Champoux-Guimond, chair of the CPT’s board of directors. “For that to happen, we need improved sortation and recycling capacities, which are particularly needed for hard-to-recycle plastics such as flexibles and PET [polyethylene terephthalate] thermoforms. Bringing APR’s packaging design expertise and industry perspective in our projects will complement our approach and unlock new opportunities for improvement across the value chain.”