Plastics industry makes case for recycling infrastructure

2019 Plastics Industry Fly-In involved more than 100 meetings with Congress members and their staffs.


Representatives of the U.S. plastics industry made the case for greater recycling infrastructure at the 2019 Plastics Industry Fly-In, according to the Plastics Industry Association (Plastics), Washington. The event was March 27.

In more than 100 meetings with members of Congress and their staffs, dozens of representatives from the nation’s third-largest manufacturing sector advocated for increased investment in the equipment, systems and other technologies that would enable the U.S. recycling industry to capture and recycle more plastic materials, Plastics says. This solution would preserve the value of plastic products while addressing serious environmental challenges like litter and marine debris, the association adds.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler headlined the 2019 Plastics Industry Fly-In. In his remarks to attendees, Wheeler emphasized the administration’s commitment to infrastructure reform that includes recycling and waste management.

“We all agree that we need to address marine litter, but we need to address it in an effective and precise manner,” Wheeler said. “Plastics have revolutionized the way we live, often in ways we don’t even realize … to really solve this problem, we must stop the trash from reaching our oceans. This means improving waste management and recycling.

“I don’t believe that we have to choose between plastics or clean oceans,” he added. “We can have both.”

Plastics has been part of an effort to rally support to modernize the nation’s recycling and waste management infrastructure.

“With legislation forthcoming, the U.S. plastics industry is all-in for increasing our nation’s capacity to recycle plastic products that consumers rely on,” says Plastics Interim President and CEO Patty Long. “We need to ensure that waste disposal and recycling infrastructure are a part of the overall national conversation around investing in our country’s infrastructure. We look forward to working with public officials and other stakeholders across the country to focus our collective efforts on long-term solutions that enable the proper disposal and recycling of plastic products.”

While infrastructure reform was a key part of the plastics industry’s message, attendees at the Fly-In also advocated for other reforms, including enacting open competition policies for plastic pipe on federal infrastructure projects, approaching trade and tariffs in a way that promotes global growth and developing the next generation of manufacturing workers, the association says.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC), the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA), the Plastics Pipe Institute (PPI) and the Manufacturers Association for Plastic Processors (MAPP) also participated in this year’s Plastics Industry Fly-In.

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