Advanced Plastics Recycling Scores Big at Latest Recycling Conference
I
just got back from the Super Bowl.
Not
the football game. The plastics recycling “Super Bowl.”
Held
just a few weeks after the (somewhat more) popular sporting event, the Plastics Recycling Conference and Trade
Show
for years has been the ultimate opportunity to gather key stakeholders to
analyze the state of plastics recycling. Sponsored by the Association of
Plastics Recyclers (APR), this year’s event attracted more than 2,200 key
players across the plastics recycling value chain, including chemical and
plastics makers, recycling technology companies, well-known brand and retail
companies, non-governmental organizations, entrepreneurs, and other recycling
advocates.
This year’s event highlighted emerging technologies that are expected to help usher in a circular economy for plastics. Although the processes and technologies vary, they essentially do the same thing: break down used plastics into their original building blocks so they can be recombined to create a variety of useful new products, everything from transportation fuels to waxes and lubricants, to brand new plastics.
The
American Chemistry Council (ACC) spearheaded a workshop on “Advanced Plastics
Recycling” for the first time at the Conference, and it sold out quickly. Co-hosted
by APR and Closed Loop Partners (CLP), the interactive workshop covered these
emerging technologies and the exciting opportunities they present.
ACC
and its member companies view advanced plastic recycling as playing a critical role
in reaching their goal of recycling 100 percent of plastic packaging by 2040.
To spread the word at the Conference, members from ACC’s Plastics Division and
Chemical Recycling Alliance (e.g., Shell, GreenMantra, Agilyx, Brightmark)
discussed their unique roles in harnessing the promise of the circular economy,
while 25+ ACC members led discussions with attendees on multiple topics.
For
its part, CLP focused on the findings of its 2019 report that uncovered tremendous demand for the
products of these emerging technologies. CLP’s “analysis indicates that these
technologies could meet an addressable market with potential revenue
opportunities of $120 billion in the United States and Canada
alone (emphasis added).”
Sounds
promising. And it is. But, of course, there are obstacles. One of the biggest:
national and state waste/recycling policies that will take some time to catch
up with advances in plastics recycling.
For
ACC’s part, we’re focused on advancing policies both in state capitals and
Washington, DC, that would remove obstacles to technologies and businesses that
recover and repurpose used plastics, as well as encourage communities to
incentivize the collection and reprocessing of used plastics. Policies that can
lead to a circular economy for plastics… and help keep plastics out of our
environment.
Following the big game, football teams typically
regroup and focus on game winning strategies. Following this once-a-year
conference, that’s what we’re doing: concentrating on how America’s plastic
makers and the entire plastic value chain can move from the past’s linear model
– create-use-dispose plastics – to a new circular model, that enables to
use—and reuse—more of our plastics resources.
The post Advanced Plastics Recycling Scores Big at Latest Recycling Conference appeared first on American Chemistry Matters.
