At the Recycled Materials Association 2025 Convention and Exposition in San Diego in May, a question was posed during the Spotlight on Plastics session about where to target recycling investments to improve outcomes, with chemical recycling projects used as an example.
While the growth of chemical recycling was viewed as important, panelists also pointed to a need to upgrade collection and sorting programs across the United States to get more postconsumer plastics into the stream for processing.
“EPR [extended producer responsibility] is coming along; that might be the answer,” said Andrea Bassetti, senior analyst of plastics recycling at London-based commodities consulting firm ICIS. “But there needs to be investments at the collection and sortation level as well as education for the consumer. Without those two things, you don’t have raw material for a [recycling] project.”
“I think PCR content requirements are another important driver in addition to collection. If you can marry those two, and manufacturers have that commitment, then we can start really getting a lot of plastics recycled and get those rates up.” – Jonathan Levy, manager of sustainability and public policy, PakTech
Scott Saunders, general manager of the plastics division at Troy, Alabama- based KW Plastics, said the industry has failed to convince cities and states that currently don’t have recycling programs to add them.
“There’s been some upgrades [and] some consolidations, but if you look at a map of the country, the coasts of the country do really good at recycling,” he said.
“As you get to the center of the country, outside of Chicago and a few cities in Texas, it’s a recycling desert. We’ve got to convince cities of 100,000, 200,000 people in the heartland of the country who’ve got [no program] to implement recycling programs.”
Saunders added that EPR programs could have an edge when it comes to investments, as they place more of a financial burden on brand owners and packaging producers than consumers, making it more palatable for the public than deposit or curbside programs.

“If there’s more material [in the stream], more collection, companies like ours and our competitors, we will find markets,” he said. “Those that need capital will be able to raise capital.”
Jonathan Levy, manager of sustainability and public policy at Eugene, Oregon-based manufacturer Pak Tech, which makes 100 percent-recycled high-density polyethylene handles for food and beverage products, said that along with collection, manufacturers should commit to using recycled resins in their products.
“If we’re not creating the demand, who are the recyclers going to sell it to?” he asked.
“If they can’t sell the material, why should they collect it in the first place? So, I think [recycled] content requirements are another important driver in addition to the collection. If you can marry those two, and manufacturers have that commitment, then we can start really getting a lot of plastics recycled and get those rates up.”
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