Who needs extra credit? Our 2024 recycling report card

I used to write a report card as part of our annual special reports on plastics recycling. It was a fun way to highlight the success stories and failures and to share my opinions.

My grades in the 1990s and early 2000s usually tended to be pretty low. In retrospect, I was usually right.

2024 seems like a good year to bring the report card back. Not because it's an opportunity to highlight all the progress of the past 30 years. On the contrary. Recycling rates are stagnant, and while there have been some steps in the right direction, it's amazing how little progress there's been.

There are plenty of little pockets of success, but overall, I feel like the headline on my 1996 report card, "Plastics recycling: Time for last rites?" still rings true today.

I have high expectations for my class. We're shooting for a circular economy for plastics, right? That's not happening.

I don't believe in grade inflation, and I don't grade on a curve. If you need extra credit, see me about writing a 500-word essay about how the plastics industry would benefit from container deposits.

This is a tough one, because I'd like to give the recycling sector a higher score. I'm not on the recycling-is-a-myth bandwagon, and I never have been. I've been to lots of successful plastics recyclers. But I just haven't seen enough A-level work in the past year.

I'd like to see more big wins between brand owners and processors. In the packaging sector, there's a lot more happening with paper right now than plastics. Recycled plastics aren't winning market share; they're barely treading water.

I debated giving a D- here, but no one deserves to pass. There are politicians at all levels who understand plastics recycling issues — or at least pretend to understand — but they're wasting time on hearings that rehash the same issues. We know the problems and how to fix them.

Sorry, but again, it's a problem of slow progress. There are some exceptions: Coca-Cola and S.C. Johnson deserve credit, and I'm sure there are others.

Thanks to groups including the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the U.S. Plastics Pact, we know that brand owners are falling short of their voluntary commitments to use more recycled plastics and less virgin resin.

They blame lower prices for virgin resin. I understand the economics, but it's a problem that they're happy to pretend they can't fix.

Again, it's tough to see a passing grade here. There have been some success stories, but progress is slow. Look at the rapid growth in virgin resin production. Compare that to the promises we've seen on chemical recycling, many of them still on the drawing board.

It's no secret I'm skeptical about chemical recycling. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see how a business model to create very expensive recycled resins is going to be a game-changer.

Be honest, especially when you're asking for taxpayer support.

OK, let's wrap up with some of those pockets of success. The Plastics Industry Association came up with a winning idea with its "Recycling Is Real" project; I think it's a perfect response to critics who intentionally mislead the public about what happens to the plastics they put in their curbside bins.

Some products that have suffered from super-low recycling rates — bags, film, polystyrene, PVC — had big setbacks in 2023 and early 2024.

I'm seeing progress in polypropylene and thermoformed PET, but it's too early to give those a grade beyond incomplete.

Don Loepp is editor of Plastics News and author of the Plastics Blog.