The recycling “fairy tale”: US study finds recycled plastic demand massively outstripping supply

23 Nov 2020 --- US-based investment firm Closed Loop Partners has released an interactive map of plastic waste in the US and Canada, revealing the diversity and volume of the problem by country and state.

As part of the firm’s “Advancing Circular Systems for Packaging and Waste Initiative,” the project reveals several critical opportunity areas for industry to “recapture the mass quantities of plastic waste and reincorporate them into the supply chain.”

At the core of its findings is the current supply of recycled plastics meeting just 6 percent of the demand for most common plastic materials in the US and Canada. 

With 11.5 million metric tons of plastic being sent to landfills each year in these countries, the recycling system captures just 18 percent of disposed packaging, according to the study. 

More than 250 US-based brands and retailers are publicly committing to increase their use of recycled content. However, current recycling systems are evidently insufficient to provide these companies the resources required, the study stresses. 

“We see advanced recycling technologies as playing an important role in addressing our hardest-to-recycle plastic-based products, such as healthcare-related plastics, multilayer packaging, and textiles, which today have limited to no end-of-life solutions,” Georgia Sherwin, director of communications and strategic projects at Closed Loop, tells PackagingInsights. 

“The high quality outputs from these diverse technologies can help us keep resources at their highest value for multiple cycles.”

However, Greenpeace is warning industry players are simply deceiving consumers with public pledges and making “no serious effort to tackle the plastic waste problem.”

Industry “greenwashing”
Perry Wheeler, senior communications specialist at Greenpeace USA, speaks with PackagingInsights about the findings. 

“For decades, the petrochemical, plastics, retail and consumer goods sectors have used greenwashing as they continue to push products wrapped in throwaway plastic onto customers and communities who are told that recycling will solve the problem.”

“This is a fairy tale.” Closed Loop Partner’s report finds that just recycled plastic meets just 6% of market demand. 

He says the findings presented in Closed Loop Partner’s study are misleading. 

“Far less than 18 percent of plastic packaging is recycled. Just because plastic waste is put in a recycle bin does not mean it is recycled.”

“In the US, only PET and HDPE bottles and jugs are widely recycled. Most of the rest – including films, bottle caps, clamshell packaging, soft plastic, small items, bags, utensils, styrofoam and yogurt cups – is usually landfilled or burned because there is little value or market for this waste.”

The mechanical “mythology” 
The Closed Loop study further highlights how mechanical recycling systems give the impression of progress on plastic waste but offer few solutions. 

“Mechanical recycling in the US and Canada recaptures the value of 2,557 million metric tons of plastic packaging after final use per year, primarily from PET bottles kept in circulation,” the study reads. 

“However, it is not an end-of-life solution for many other forms of plastic waste, like apparel, construction plastics, automotive applications and more, where there may be an opportunity for advanced recycling to fill this gap and solve for these hardest-to-recycle plastic-based products.”

“Current strategies to address plastic waste – like reduction, reuse, mechanical and advanced recycling – are complementary, but taken alone, they will be ineffective at producing a circular system for all plastics,” the study flags.

Chemical recycling adds fuel to fire
Wheeler at Greenpeace agrees both mechanical and advanced methods are not an answer to the problem and stresses industry players are determined to construe them as such for their own benefit.

“Mechanical recycling is clearly not working. This is why consumer brands, anxious to prove that their plastic is ‘good,’ have turned to the promises of so-called chemical recycling,” he argues.

“Much of these processes actually turn plastic or waste into fuels and petrochemicals; these are very energy and emissions-intensive, and so far have not been proven to reduce any demand for petrochemicals or new plastic.” Only 9% of plastics ever created have been recycled, according to Greenpeace.

“Industry has been very active in hyping these technologies, and it is very attractive for large brands so that they can continue relying on single-use plastic. The more you look, the clearer it is that the main purpose is to convince people that all this plastic trash can be recycled. That is not yet the case, and is unlikely ever to be.”

“Recycling is largely mythological,” Wheeler states.

Greenpeace USA recently warned many American Chemistry Council (ACC) approved “chemical” or “advanced” recycling projects are unviable or misleadingly promoted as recycling when they mainly produce fuels and waxes.

Looking beyond packaging
With the idea of recycling systems solving plastic waste ruled out, Closed Loop is calling for a “multi-pronged approach.”

The study calls on industry to look beyond packaging and help collect data on all plastic waste to create a more circular future. 

“We are at a critical moment of consensus. Across industries and sectors, stakeholders agree that we want and need reduction in plastic and better management of the plastics being produced,” says Sherwin. 

Greenpeace adds that instead of creating markets for throwaway plastic, industry must focus on reuse, refill and package-free designs. 

“Insisting that plastic should be recycled is part of the problem, rather than the solution,” says Wheeler. 

Betting on Biden
Wheeler asserts that consumers and government administrations have vital roles to play. 

“We expect President-Elect Biden to reverse the Trump Administration’s opposition to a new global treaty on plastic pollution.”

“We hope to push the Biden Administration to prioritize the reduction of single-use plastics, not continue to rely on a recycling system that will never be enough to solve the pollution crisis.”

“Consumers can do their part by demanding retail giants like Walmart, Amazon, Target and consumer good brands like Nestlé, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo eliminate single-use plastics and embrace widespread reuse and refill systems, and by urging their government officials to prioritize plastic reduction.” 

“Take to the phones, post on social media, urge your friends, family and communities to demand action,” Wheeler stresses.

In May 2019, 187 countries voted to add hard-to-recycle plastic waste to the Basel Convention, a UN-led treaty that controls the movement of hazardous waste from one country to another. The US was not among them.

By Louis Gore-Langton