Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • 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
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • 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
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • 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. Viewpoint
June 17, 2021 11:04 AM

Virgin resin tax may make packaging more circular

Steve Toloken
Assistant Managing Editor
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    One thing that's going to be needed to fix plastics recycling in the United States is money, and lots of it.

    A recent report from the industry-funded Recycling Partnership estimates that $17 billion over five years could make big improvements, including $4 billion alone for residential recycling to be able to handle plastic films and flexibles.

    But there's a gap in how to pay for it. Here's an idea to close the gap that may sound radical in the United States but is getting attention elsewhere — a tax on virgin resin in plastic packaging that doesn't have recycled content.

    The government in the United Kingdom has proposed it, and consumer product companies in this country have floated the idea of resin fees generally.

    The U.K. is suggesting a tax of 200 pounds sterling per metric ton of plastic packaging made there or imported, but it would exempt any package with more than 30 percent recycled content.

    In the U.S., by my calculations, that works out roughly to $250 per U.S. ton, or 12.5 cents per pound. Most plastics in packaging sells for 80 cents to $1.20 a pound, although it's worth noting those prices are at historic highs.

    At this point, I'm sure some of the Plastics News readers are thinking: This is crazy. Why would we want to effectively raise our prices?

    Hear me out. It would raise the kind of serious money needed to improve recycling infrastructure and get our plastic packaging recycling rate above the 14 percent rate the EPA says we have now. That's anemic.

    It would also send a strong signal in favor of recycled content and more circular plastic packaging.

    Hurdles would have to be addressed. The money collected would have to be limited to plastics recycling, like federal gas taxes going to the Highway Trust Fund.

    A colleague I ran this by said it would put administrative burdens on companies. But it seems to me that any big attempt at improvements will do that. The extended producer responsibility programs plastics industry groups say they're now in favor of would also have administrative burdens for companies.

    Government policy has always been involved in recycling. The PET recycling business got its start with bottle bills in the 1970s, and our taxes pay for curbside recycling that provides industry with materials.

    We use tax policies all the time for things society values, like home ownership. In that context, a tax to support recycled content isn't so radical, and it has the advantage of being a tax that can be avoided if we do the right thing and make packaging circular.

    And if chemical or advanced recycling takes off in the way some say it will for plastics, the tax would drop off.

    So how much money are we talking about?

    As one example covering part of the packaging sector, the EPA estimates there's about 8.4 billion pounds of plastic used bags, wraps and sacks each year.

    Using that as a rough stand-in for flexible packaging, a 12.5 cent resin tax would raise $1 billion a year. Over five years, you've got the money the Recycling Partnership says is needed to pay for flexible plastics recycling in curbside programs.

    The Plastics Industry Association recently had its annual Washington lobbying event for member companies, and recycling and sustainability were among the key talking points. Industry lobbyists hope to see some funding for recycling in the infrastructure plans Washington is debating.

    In an era of rising federal deficits, a tax like this has the advantage of not making the government's financial situation worse and making it an easier sell to get recycling in any new Washington spending.

    It would still allow for all the arguments in favor of plastics packaging — that it's lightweight, that it can have a lower greenhouse gas impact over its use phase, and that its flexibility and functionality make it popular in packaging.

    But plastic packaging's big weakness is a lack of circularity and overreliance on virgin fossil resources.

    I saw a small example of that last weekend when I bought an aluminum can of water at a 7-11.

    The brand name, Liquid Death Mountain Water, drew me in, but the labeling went right at the challenge for plastics packaging.

    It noted pointedly that the average aluminum can has 70 percent recycled content but the average plastic bottle has 3 percent. I've seen other estimates in that range, that plastics packaging has low single-digit percentage of post-consumer content.

    There's no technological reason why all plastic beverage bottles couldn't have much higher recycled content.

    A lot of it comes down to political will, in my opinion. There are some economic differences in the recycling of aluminum compared with plastics, but it's mostly political will that's needed to fund our government-run collection systems and incentivize companies to use recycled content.

    A virgin resin tax, with a carveout exemption for recycled content, is a way to get the money needed to make that political will happen.

    Steve Toloken is a Plastics News assistant managing editor. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Toloken.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    When 3 percent equals $2B in sales
    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
    Braskem stops production on a PP line at Pennsylvania plant
    2
    Perspective: Making the case that ‘Recycling Is Real'
    3
    Superior Die Set seeks sale of Wisconsin plant, may be forced to close
    4
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    5
    Lego ditches plans to make bricks from recycled PET
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    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
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. 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
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • 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
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points 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
    • 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
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • 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