Design for Recycling topic of fourth annual State of Recycling meeting

For the fourth annual State of Recycling meeting on Capitol Hill Nov. 13, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and the Congressional Recycling Caucus emphasized the importance of Design for Recycling (DFR). The State of Recycling, hosted by the Congressional Recycling Caucus, is held every year around America Recycles Day, Nov. 15.

“For ISRI, whose missions it is to promote safe, economically sustainable and environmentally responsible recycling, America Recycles Day provides a unique opportunity every year to gather the attention of Congress on issues of critical importance to recycling’s future,” said Robin Wiener, president of Washington-based ISRI and moderator of the event. “This year, our focus is on the concept of Design for Recycling. More than 30 years ago, ISRI started the Design for Recycling initiative to encourage manufacturers to consider the ultimate destiny of their products during the design stage of a product’s development. This concept continues to be highly relevant today, as stakeholders throughout the recycling supply chain in the U.S. and around the globe are working hard to better manage material flow amidst ever-changing supply and demand for recycled commodities.”

The event featured opening remarks from House Recycling Caucus Co-Chair John Shimkus. Additional speakers included David Tulauskas, chief sustainability officer, Nestlé Waters; Joel Heilman, LyondellBasell; Mark Ohleyer, vice president, sales and marketing, Clearwater Paper Corp.; Erica Logan, regulatory senior principal engineer, North America environmental affairs and producer responsibility, Dell Computer Corp.; and Adam Gendell, associate director, Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), which is part of GreenBlue.

“ISRI feels very strongly about the need to recognize the proactive steps made by those manufacturers that have actively incorporated DFR principles into their products and their manufacturing processes,” said Wiener as she recognized Nestlé Waters North America and Dell as past winners of ISRI’s Design for Recycling Award.

Nestlé Waters, which received the award this year for the design of its 100-percent-recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) Nestlé Pure Life 700-milliliter bottle and its specially designed pressure-sensitive label. Dell Technologies received the award in 2018 for its Latitude 5590 laptop, which was designed with a removable battery and standardized fasteners and manufactured free of harmful substances, such as mercury, and without glues and adhesives that could impede recycling. Dell also used gold recycled from used electronic products in the product.

During the briefing, ISRI also released its latest video, “The Economics of Successful Recycling,” which highlights the crucial role Design for Recycling plays in successful recycling.