A great data-driven analysis prepared by The Recycling Partnership, for U.S. residential recycling system, combining EPR strategies, design for recycling, focused investment opportunities, policy changes, and addressing the fact that households have a key role to play in advancing recycling rates. According to the report, “76% of residential recyclables are lost at household level…”. Reduce and Reuse are the priority, then Recycling. Regarding plastics, advanced or molecular recycling technologies can tackle the increasing rates of collected material and can handle “non-recyclable” plastics, playing a relevant role as a complement (and sometimes competition), to mechanical recycling. It will be interesting to include advanced recycling technologies, benefits and scalability and what needs to be done on the regulation to really move the needle. We believe that experience supports the development of a scientific performance-based approach to plastics recycling partnerships, and public policy. New developments address both the criticisms and unlock the ability of new technologies to upcycle the vast quantities of used plastics that are currently not recycled (...not even collected). Policy makers should also focus on creating performance standards for avoiding harm to public health and to the environment, and allow innovators and communities the flexibility to develop increasingly effective ways of meeting those standards. The approach taken by the Technical and Economic Assessment Panel under the Montreal Protocol and corresponding U.S. Clean Air Act provides the best example of how to successfully do this both in process and substance. On “recyclable materials” the report continues to show that “…With over 9,000 community recycling programs throughout the U.S., each program has different standards for what materials can be collected.”… Upcycling/Advanced recycling technologies accept a wide variety of plastics, can occur at a profit thus creating an economic incentive for local communities to construct affordable upcycling facilities to collect and convert ALL of their plastics into valuable feedstock, at a net savings to their budgets rather than at a cost. #advancedrecycling #innovation
How do we capture the 79% of recyclables we lose to landfills? Read our State of Recycling Report to understand the solutions. https://bit.ly/47p5dXW #recycling #recyclingmatters #recyclingindustry