Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs can boost the collection of household flexible plastics; however, end-use demand must increase to support the recycling infrastructure needed to process this material.
With funding from Amcor and Kraft Heinz, we worked with environmental non-profit Delterra to produce a report that seeks to address this challenge by identifying the end-use applications with the greatest potential to build demand for household flexible plastics.
While emerging EPR schemes set ambitious targets for recycling flexible plastics, North American markets remain limited. For instance, Senate Bill 54 establishes a 65% recycling rate target by 2032 for single-use plastics, yet less than 5% are recycled today in the state.
Households generate a significant amount of flexible plastic waste, but packaging and product manufacturers in North America have historically had little incentive to incorporate this recycled material into their products.
The paper presents insights into the economics required to support the recycling of household flexible plastics and a framework for identifying the most viable end-use applications for this material.
We identified a common set of technical characteristics in promising end-use applications and applied them to a list of over 40 potential end-use applications. As a result, we shortlisted eight end uses that emerged as most promising when the framework is applied to North America.
We estimate that these eight applications could collectively absorb an estimated ~800K tons per year of recycled household PE film.
To help advance this work, Delterra and Eunomia developed the Recycled Flexibles Demand Accelerator, funded by Amcor and Kraft Heinz. Delterra and Eunomia are inviting manufacturers, converters, reclaimers and other organizations interested in advancing recycled flexible plastics markets to join the Recycled Flexibles Demand Accelerator and explore opportunities to collaborate on testing and market development.
