Does the Plastic Recycling Industry of North America Need Immediate Rescue?

The covid-19 pandemic shattered and challenged the plastic recycling market in many ways as it did to several other industries. The disruptions in supply chain, transportation, and collections of plastic wastes and the continued labour shortages, eventually caused the market to hamper. However, the recycling industry has been trying to recover since then in the USA.

The CEO and President of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Steve Alexander said that the Recycling Industry is facing supply issues due to the unavailability of post-consumer resins, which requires immediate attention to prevent the recycling market from drowning. The mechanical recyclers have enough capacity to process more recyclable products, but the inadequate supply has been a significant threat to the rising demand for Recycled Plastics. He added that broadening and streamlining collection techniques, proper labelling, and contamination reduction should be the priorities for recyclability.

In 2020, the collection of post-consumer-use plastics in the USA fell by 5.7% compared to the previous year and landed at 4,803.8 million pounds. All categories of plastics bottles and non-bottles witnessed a decline in the collection, except for the film collection, which was up by 1%. The CEO of the recycling partnership, Keefe Harrison, said that according to data from 2020 U.S. Post-Consumer Recycling Plastics, the industry needs better investment in the USA recycling system to enhance the rate of recycling. Besides, there is a need to educate Americans about recyclability and provide them with equal access to recycling.

As said by Emily Tipaldo, the U.S. Plastics Pacts Executive director, The companies are supposed to expand their supply of post-consumer resins to reach the 2025 targets of the U.S. plastic pact. Furthermore, sticking to the design guide by APR and eliminating any contamination would enhance the quality and quantity of Recycled Plastics. Altogether, the USA Plastic Recycling industry needs immediate rescue. For that Recycling industry in the USA needs to take better measures to improve its collection techniques, which would expand the supply.