by MAURA KELLER
From PPE to medical and laboratory equipment to cold-chain insulation for vaccine transport, and even vaccine syringes, plastics play a significant role in treating and protecting people, especially frontline workers, against COVID-19.
Additionally, as people have spent more time at home, there’s been a surge in home delivery, resulting in greater use of takeout containers and mail packaging. These trends have led to a significant uptick in demand for plastic domestically and across the globe.
Due to its performance benefits, industry experts expect strong reliance on plastic to continue.
“This year, the introduction of president Biden’s Build Back Better plan for recovery has sparked a movement to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, and plastics will play a critical role,” said Joshua Baca, vice president of plastics at the American Chemistry Council. “Plastics are essential to infrastructure components, such as more energy-efficient homes and buildings including insulation and sealants, more fuel efficient cars, solar panels, wind turbines, electric and autonomous vehicles, and bridges. All of these will help America build more sustainable and resilient communities, and a stronger, more sustainable economy.”
So what does the influx plastics use during the ongoing pandemic mean for the recycling industry?
As Baca explained, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an outsized impact on U.S. recycling and waste management systems. Not only did the need for plastic increase, but some municipalities paused recycling programs to limit potential worker exposures to COVID-19. So, in the short-term, the pandemic has amplified many of the economic and operational challenges the industry faces.
Dr. Marta Guron, assistant teaching professor of chemistry at Villanova University said that unfortunately, the plastic industry is not prepared to take in extra plastic waste. Single use masks, for example, can have mixed media, which makes them much more difficult to process in addition to the concern over whether the masks are contaminated, therefore putting recycling industry workers at risk.
“Thankfully, the COVID virus doesn’t live on surfaces for very long, but there are limited capacities in recycling plants and waste processing facilities, creating an even greater strain on the industry,” Guron said. “Additionally, no help has come from the government in terms of improving infrastructure or streamlining plastic waste processing. So different regions have different capabilities in recycling.” Since the market for recycled plastic has decreased owing to the increased supply and the already existing strain created by the policy changes in China in 2018, it is reasonable to believe that without some infrastructure and government support, the ability to recoup processing costs will continue to diminish.
Regardless, America’s plastic makers are continuing their efforts to end plastic waste. “In 2018, we announced goals for all plastic packaging used in the U.S. to be recyclable or recoverable by 2030 and to be recycled, reused, or recovered by 2040,” Baca said. “We continue to focus on investing and innovating to modernize and expand plastics recycling infrastructure. That’s why forward-looking legislation like the bipartisan RECOVER Act is so important.” This bill, if passed, would provide federal grants to states, municipalities and tribal governments to invest in improving recycling.
“Not only will this help ensure recycling remains economically viable and competitive, it will help our country build an infrastructure that continues advancing efforts to create a circular economy for plastics,” Baca said.
Of course, during the pandemic, there’s been a shift in the recycling and waste management stream from the commercial sector to the residential sector as more people worked and lived in their homes.
“Many recyclers are relying more on residents for their materials, and minimizing contamination in the waste stream has become even more important,” Baca said. “Recycling education focused on the ins-and-outs of what to recycle curbside, how to pre-clean items, and what needs to be dropped off at a specific recycling location is always helpful. But these factors also points to the need to establish a national recycling standard to eliminate the conflicting patchwork of local and state standards currently in place and make recycling easier for everyone.”
Darrel Collier, executive director of the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) said increased consumption of products utilizing bottles and containers made from PET will result in recycling only when those items land in recycling bins or redemption centers.
“At the height of the pandemic in 2020, many states that have redemption centers were closed to the public –retailers would not allow drop offs, and in some cases the actual redemption location was closed – in some cases for more than 30 days,” Collier said. “Anecdotally, we heard that some consumers were storing their redemption bottles until locations reopened. However, we will not know the true impact until we release our 2020 PET Recycling Report later this year.”
PET is the most widely recovered plastic material, and globally has a recovery rate of nearly 56 percent. Prior to the pandemic, NAPCOR saw costs for postconsumer recycled PET rise above that of virgin PET.
“This was driven by demand and a realization that RPET is a different product than virgin PET, therefore having a unique value,” Collier said. “We saw this decoupling of RPET from virgin PET pricing continue through the pandemic and into present times. We also launched our Positively PET campaign just before the pandemic, but chose to continue with our messaging. Educating consumers about PET and its recyclability attributes – ultimately encouraging recycling – is our goal.”
Increased Challenges
Plastic waste in the environment is never okay, and the American Chemistry Council and others are working to accelerate the transition toward a circular economy, in which used plastic and other materials are reused and treated as valuable resources instead of discarded.
“We’re working to provide Congress and state legislatures with holistic solutions to address plastic waste. As part of this, we need to expand access to advanced recycling technologies that pick up where traditional recycling methods leave off,” Baca said. “Traditional recycling is a critical part of our recycling infrastructure and needs to thrive for us to succeed. At the same time, to fully transition to a circular economy, we have to increase our ability to recover and recycle more types of plastic materials through advanced recycling.”
Advanced recycling further reduces hard-to-recycle plastics, like multi-resin food packaging, to their molecular level, and then turns them into feedstock for future plastic materials and other valuable products. American companies like Agilyx, Braven Environmental and Brightmark, for example, are leading in this area.
Guron stressed that educating all facets of the system, including consumer, manufacturing and governmental is paramount to offsetting the challenges the plastic recycling industry faces.
“The educational component must, first and foremost, target government leaders at all levels of the political system,” Guron said. “Without increased spending to improve sorting infrastructure and without acknowledgement that recycling should be profitable and viewed as a service to future generations, the industry is destined to struggle long term.”
Additionally, she added that perpetuating the idea that plastics can be recycled without having space or processing ability does more harm than good.
“Keeping in mind that it is plastic manufacturers that perpetuate the education intended to get more people to recycle, that sort of education muddles reality. People believe that anything with a ‘recycling triangle’ is recyclable, which contaminates entire waste streams and does not help the plastic recycling industry,” Guron said. “Supporting legislation that puts the onus of the packaging waste on manufacturers and supplementing with government support to create a robust recycling network, would provide long term solutions and help the plastic recycling industry stand more firmly in its foundation.”
A Positive Outlook
The last year has been difficult for many and has emphasized the need to build a more advanced, sustainable and resilient American manufacturing base. This requires both innovation and investment, and Baca believes the future looks promising.
“As we work toward a circular economy for plastics, and our brand partners continue to incorporate more recycled plastic material into products and packaging, the demand for recycled plastic will continue to rise, helping to sustain the modernization of our recycling systems,” Baca said. “Many are seeing this shift as an economic opportunity.” According to a recent report from ResearchandMarkets, the global plastic recycling industry is expected to recover and grow, reaching $50.4 billion by 2027.
“State-level legislation will continue to support this growth. Twelve states have already passed laws that support the growth of advanced recycling to increase the capture and reuse of plastic materials,” Baca said. “Plastic recycling will be instrumental in developing a more efficient economy and a cleaner world.”
Published in the June 2021 Edition