The American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division (ACC) disclosed that Mecklenburg County, North Carolina; the City of Vancouver, Washington; and Safeway/Albertsons have been selected to receive Innovation in Plastics Recycling Awards.
The awards recognize companies, nonprofits and government bodies that bring new technologies, products, and initiatives to communities and the marketplace that demonstrate significant innovations in plastics recycling.
All three winners are partners of the Wrap Recycling Action Program (WRAP), a public-private partnership with the goal of increasing the volume of plastic wraps and bags (collectively known as plastic film) recycled, through public education and sharing tools and best practices.
•Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, launched its WRAP campaign in the fall of 2016 after a recent survey found that only half of county residents were aware that flexible plastic wraps and bags should be brought to grocery or retail stores instead of curbside to be recycled. Moreover, the survey found that few residents were aware of the many types of plastic wraps and bags that can be recycled.
•Vancouver, Washington, along with its partners, Clark County, Washington and Waste Connections, launched an educational campaign in 2015 when they observed that their residents were eager to recycle plastic bags and wraps but unsure of proper recycling methods for these materials. “Too frequently residents were putting these materials into curbside recycling carts where they created processing complications at the recycling processing center and became too degraded to actually be recycled,” said Rich McConaghy, environmental resources manager for the city of Vancouver.
•Safeway/Albertsons locations in the Vancouver, Washington, area served as the city’s retail partner for its WRAP campaign. Twelve locations posted educational signage about film recycling and encouraged their customers to bring back their plastic film for recycling. Safeway/Albertsons also participated in pre and post-campaign film audits, which showed that during the campaign, the amount of film collected increased by 125 percent while contamination remained low.
ACC’s Innovations in Plastics Recycling Awards contest is open to all U.S. companies, nonprofits, individuals and government bodies (including schools) that collect or process plastics for recycling, promote plastics recycling through education and infrastructure, manufacture equipment used to collect or process plastics for recycling or manufacture a new product made in whole or part from recycled plastic.
Published in the February 2017 Edition of American Recycler News