Mixed results for recycling in new reports

New Orleans — Insider lingo calls them post-consumer non-bottle rigid plastics. A bit of a mouthful. Average folks call them tubs and caps and lids and cups and the like.

Whatever the name, recycling of these plastic products spiked by 27 percent in 2014 in the United States, according to brand new statistics from the American Chemistry Council.

Unveiled Feb. 2 in conjunction with this year's Plastics Recycling Conference in New Orleans, the 2014 National Postconsumer Non-Bottle Rigid Plastic Recycling Report is the work of Moore Recycling Associates Inc., for the trade group and its plastics division.

The 27-percent jump from 2013 to 2014 translates into an additional 276 million pounds being recycled from one year to the next. A total of 1.28 billion pounds of the material were recycled in 2014, ACC reports.

“There's strong programs to grow rigid recycling. One of the big issues in the case of non-bottle rigids is we've seen that the material is very valuable and there are strong markets for it. We've seen collection of the material and access for the material grow dramatically,” said Keith Christman, managing director of plastics markets for ACC.

Increases in recycling programs as well as standardization of terminology surrounding the collection and recycling of these non-bottle rigids have both helped recycling numbers increase, he said.

“It helps communication. Helps make it easy for consumers and for people to recycle plastics beyond bottles,” Christman said.

More than 60 percent of the nation's population has access to non-bottle rigid recycling. That's up from just 40 percent in 2007, he said.

“In the case of non-bottle rigids, the recycling of that material is four times higher today than it was in just 2007. Really just huge growth and expansion in non-bottle rigid recycling, Christman said.

Post-consumer non-bottle rigid recycling totaled 325.4 million in 2007.

The dramatic increase from 2013 to 2014, Christman said, also can be attributed to the Green Fence program that China put into place to improve the quality of recyclables entering the country.

Green Fence required recyclers around the world to pay better attention and improve their bales or risk the possibility of having their shipments rejected once they hit Chinese soil.

“I think the market somewhat suffered from that in the 2013 timeframe,” Christman said. Non-bottle rigid recycling dipped slightly from 2012 to 2013, falling by about 1 percent. At the same time there also was a big increase in the amount of this material being reprocessed domestically.

While Green Fence was a primary factor in this decline in the last report, ACC's Plastics Division Vice President Steve Russell said at the time that changes in reporting methodology also could have had a small impact on the numbers as well.

“In the 2014 timeframe, collectors of the materials, material recovery facilities and others have found ways to increase and take advantage of the material. We've seen improved bail quality, growing standardization of the bales,” Christman said.

Film recycling growth slows

While non-bottle rigids enjoyed large gains in 2014, plastics film recycling growth certainly was more modest.

Moore Recycling also authored the 2014 National Postconsumer Plastic Bag and Film Recycling Report for ACC. This study showed recycling in that segment increased by 3 percent, or about 29 million pounds, in 2014 to reach 1.17 billion pounds.

That increase compares to an 11-percent jump, or 116 million pounds, in last year's report.

Plastic film recycling is up by 79 percent since 2005.

“Some years, we see increases in film. Some years, we see big increases in rigids. That's why it's important to take a longer-term look. Last year [2013], we saw that giant bump in film recycling and this year it was more modest. So there's some fluctuations in that. But overall, the long-term trend is for that tremendous growth. And I think that will continue,” Christman said.

ACC's news release, with links to the full reports, is available here.