Plastic circularity success requires money, education, design

Success in creating a circular economy will not happen with a single solution or even two.

For Diane Marret, sustainability director for Berry Global Group Inc.'s Consumer Packaging North America division, change requires investment in recycling facilities and expansion to recycled resin access.

There also must be more education for both the plastics industry and consumers as well as an emphasis on designing for recyclability.

"The challenges are big. The market is ever-changing," Marret said Sept. 20 during a presentation during the first day of the Plastic Caps & Closures 2021 conference, organized by Plastics News. "But the accomplishments are so rewarding. Each time one of our new innovations is launched, I can see how our work is helping to create long-term solutions to maximize for circularity.

"Circularity has become a critical strategy for every business, whether you are a supplier, a manufacturer, a brand owner or retailer," she said during a virtual presentation.

But that does not mean there are not wide-ranging challenges.

"We will always be limited ... for circularity without ongoing education within the industry and among our consumers. Confusion around why and how the circular economy works limits engagement," she said, and can create chatter that detracts from momentum.

As a sustainability official at Berry, Marret said she often sees examples of this.

"In my role, I'm continuously surprised by the amount of misinformation that there is in the market around recycling. Whether it's health and safety concerns with recycled content, lack of processes or just confusion about what can and can't be recycled, there always seems to be incorrect information floating around that creates false messages," she said.

"We, as a group, must continue to educate the world on the benefits … if we truly want to maximize for circularity," Marret said.

To prepare for her conference presentation, the sustainability director conducted an online survey to gauge consumer knowledge about plastics recycling. One of the questions involved whether people understood whether they should leave caps on their containers when recycling.

She used the results as just one example about the continued need for education.

A total of 61 percent of respondents indicated caps should be left on containers and 39 percent said they should be removed.

This random sampling comes after years of plastics recycling industry messaging, which continues today through the Association of Plastic Recyclers trade group, to keep caps on. APR says plastic caps represent an important stream of resin that recyclers covet.

But there has been a historic mixed message dating back decades about the caps issue and the uncertainty has created some confused consumers who still believe they have to remove caps.

Another factor impacting circularity, of course, is money.

"The cost and accessibility of recycled resin is an extremely hot topic in discussion today and poses industrywide challenges we are all familiar with. We hear it from all angles, right? 'Use more PCR [post-consumer recycled content]. Put more PCR in your products,'" she said.

"Companies say they want to utilize more PCR into their packaging but don't necessarily want to pay for it yet," Marret said.

While market conditions fluctuate, recycled plastic is often more expensive than virgin resin. The cost to capture, transport, recycle and then reuse is often a difficult financial comparison with new plastics.

The concept of a circular economy is complex, she said, but there are pathways to greater success.

"The way we transition to a more circular economy is by ensuring recyclability and then incorporating recycled content with a focused plan. So we do have a lot of new technologies that are coming online in the next few years. We really need to engage early adopters into these spaces so we can make them successful long term," Marret said.