Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
      • 2022 class
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
News
May 23, 2011 02:00 AM

New package labels aim to simplify recycling

Mike Verespej
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The Sustainable Packaging Coalition is getting ready to launch a voluntary labeling pilot program that it hopes will increase recycling of all packaging materials and eliminate confusion often caused by resin identification codes.

    “We are working on the finalized design,” said Anne Bedarf, an SPC project manager. “We plan to launch the pilot this fall with about 10 major brands and some private-label brands used by retailers.”

    SPC, a working group of more than 200 brand owners, resin companies, processors and retailers, is a project of GreenBlue, a Charlottesville, Va., nonprofit organization focused on sustainability implementation.

    Bedarf said only SPC members will be able to use the labels on their products until late 2012, but the goal is to open the program to others after that.

    “Our hope is to have it become a universal label,” Bedarf said. “We see it as similar to the nutritional label on foods because it will be non-biased” and reflect current recycling ability.

    “Labels are quite a confusing landscape for the consumer [with] well-meaning, but not often useful, messaging like 'please recycle' and '100 percent recyclable,' “ she said. “They also don't provide additional instruction related to the local nature of recycling.”

    The consumer becomes responsible for properly sending a package through the recovery system, she said. “Increasingly, they are looking to industry to make packaging recyclable and provide instruction on what really is recyclable, and what is not.”

    Companies will pay a fee to use the label, with proceeds used to cover the data management, administrative costs and to make needed updates — particularly as to what products qualify for what type of label.

    Bedarf said the types of packaging that will use the labels in the pilot program “will cover a broad range of items — mostly things you would buy at a grocery store.”

    The initiative, three years in development, is modeled after a program used on 90 percent of products sold in grocery stores and by more than 100 companies, Bedarf said.

    The labels will classify packaging either as widely recycled, not recyclable or with limited recycling — meaning consumers need to check locally to see whether it is recycled in their area. The labels will not address recycled content.

    The “not recyclable” label will have a black diagonal line through a chasing-arrows icon. Labels for packaging with limited recycling will have the phrase, “limited recycling” in the center of that icon and the phrase, “check locally,” in a box above the icon. The icons also will identify material, for example, as a paper or plastic container.

    Plastic bags and films will have the phrase “store drop-off” in the center of the chasing arrows icon, and the phrase “recycle if clean & dry” in a box above the icon. Plastic bottles will have the phrase, “empty and replace cap” in a box above the chasing arrows icon.

    “This is an effort to create a harmonized system that applies to all materials and to move away from resin identification codes because a lot of people think RIC codes mean an item is recyclable and that is not always the case,” Bedarf said. “Municipalities and local and state officials tell us that there is no question that people find the RIC codes confusing and that it causes significant consumer confusion.”

    What level of recyclability a package receives will depend on what percentage of the population has access to recycle that package.

    “Each component of a package will have separate labels,” except for some caps and closures, where the label will ask the consumer to please rinse and replace on the package, said Bedarf.

    For an item to qualify for a widely recyclable label, 60 percent of the population must be able to recycling it; the “limited” label will be for 20-60 percent. “That will be where the big swatch of plastics lies,” she said.

    Because the classifications will be by type of product, not type of resin, plastic items made from the same resin — such as PET bottles and thermoformed PET containers — can, and are likely to have — different labels. “There is a difference in the reach of [access to] recycling programs for PET bottles and PET thermoform containers and we need to know that and address that,” she said.

    “To get the data we needed at that type of granular level was one of the obstacles,” said Bedarf. But she said SPC is working with the plastics division of the Washington-based American Chemistry Council to determine by year's end what portion of the U.S. population has access to recycling different plastic items.

    Before the pilot program starts, Bedarf said the group will launch in mid-June an educational website, www.REstarttheCYCLE.com.

    To augment that, Bedarf said the Washington-based Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers is developing an educational campaign on how to recycle — without the numbers.

    “We hope this voluntary labeling program will help the industry communicate with a common language,” and reduce the time and cost of vetting claims in-house, Bedarf said.

    The program states its goals include reducing confusion “by creating a clear, well-understood and harmonized label that enables industry to convey to consumers how to recycle a package.”

    Bednar said, “We also think the packaging labels will help corporations recycle more efficiently and help them with their social responsibility efforts because of the educational aspect.”

    She continued, “Although it would be difficult to link an increase in recycling rates with a label … we are hoping that, coupled with everything else, it will be a big help in driving up the dismal recycling rates” of many forms of plastics packaging.

    She also said the program has been designed so that the recycling category for a product or product component can change as its level of recycling changes — and hopefully improves.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    MPP acquisition gives Dallas Plastics a presence in Canada
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Obituary: Trexel CEO Brian Bechard
    2
    Get used to higher inflation, interest rates
    3
    With plenty of uncertainty, the race to automotive electrification is underway
    4
    HIG Capital to ‘accelerate investments' in Avient distribution unit
    5
    Nexus executive: Industry must deliver on promise of chemical recycling
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
          • 2022 class
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified