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May 13, 2021
Falls Church, Va. – The public is calling for more things to be recyclable but the path to cement that future remains unclear. That is why The Recycling Partnership has convened the Pathway to Circularity Industry Council (the Circularity Council) to assess what actions must take place to help the U.S. recycling system accept more packaging.
Stakeholders from across the recycling industry have been calling for a much-needed transparent and inclusive process to assess packaging recyclability. With the Circularity Council (see full list of members here), The Recycling Partnership is answering that call by engaging 35 senior industry leaders representing various material types, brands, government, Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), NGOs, retailers, and trade associations. This group will address the missing and needed determinants for recyclability of packaging, initiating a national engagement around solution building.
Getting back a desired ‘widely recyclable label for polypropylene
Dearman
An industry coalition working to turn around falling access to polypropylene packaging recycling in curbside programs believes its early investments are paying off and it s making meaningful progress toward its goals.
But a group that will assess one of those key goals the ability to label PP packaging like yogurt cups, margarine tubs and Keurig coffee pods as widely recyclable in the United States cautions that measuring progress is complex.
The Polypropylene Recycling Coalition formed last year with $35 million from major consumer brands and plastics firms to funnel grants to local materials recovery facilities to get more Americans access to recycling PP.
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Beginning this month, villagers can divert a few more items away from their trash cans: Rumpke Waste and Recycling recently announced that it would accept new plastic items for recycling.
Along with the previously accepted plastic items like bottles and jugs, Yellow Springs residents can now fill their recycling bins with fruit and yogurt cups and butter, sour cream, cottage cheese and whipped topping tubs.
Whereas the plastics Rumpke usually accepted for recycling tended to be #1 PETE or #2 HDPE that is, polyethylene terephthalate or high-density polyethylene the newly accepted items are all #5 PP, or polypropylene, plastics. Polypropylene has long been passed over for collection by many residential recycling programs across the country, due in part to the expense of recycling the material compared to producing it from scratch.