ACC analysis claims plastic recycling expansion could fuel major economic output

A new analysis released by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) claims if just 50 percent of plastics in the municipal solid waste stream were redirected from landfills to recycling facilities, the United States could gain an estimated 173,200 jobs, $12.8 billion in annual payroll and $48.7 billion in additional annual economic output.

The report shows the estimated combined impact of mechanical and advanced (also known as chemical or molecular) recycling technologies working together to process a broad range of used plastics. Washington-based ACC notes that mechanical recycling is designed to efficiently process items such as water or laundry detergent bottles, while a variety of advanced recycling technologies can convert hard-to-recycle plastics, such as flexible packaging and textiles, back into their original building blocks to make new products.

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Discussing the report in a media call, Ross Eisenberg, President of the ACC’s Plastics Division, America’s Plastic Makers, says today’s recycling systems can recover some used plastics, “but not anywhere near enough to actually make a dent in our national plastic recycling rate.”

Citing data from United Kingdom-based firm ENF Recycling, Eisenberg adds that there are 245 plastic recycling facilities in the U.S., along with more than 80 packaging-specific recycling operations across the U.S. and Canada, with most relying on mechanical recycling processes. Eisenberg and the ACC have advocated advanced recycling as a way to process plastics that mechanical systems are not equipped for.

“Mechanical recycling is tried and true, but these systems [can’t fully capture] what’s possible because too many plastics—the films, the pouches, the tubes, the synthetic textiles—they still end up in landfills because the existing recycling infrastructure we have here in the U.S. just can’t handle them,” Eisenberg says. “That’s what makes emerging private investments in advanced recycling so encouraging and so important.

“These technologies can dramatically expand the types and amounts of plastic that can be recycled. They convert used plastics back into gas or liquid raw materials which can then be remade into brand new plastics for use in virtually any product or packaging type, including food- and pharmaceutical-grade plastics.”

Eisenberg notes that across the U.S., billions of dollars of investments are being made in advanced recycling systems, and projects are taking shape that potentially can divert millions of tons of used plastic from landfills.

“These investments are breathing new life into manufacturing, creating skilled jobs and helping meet the demand for recycled materials,” he says.

Heather Rose-Glowacki, senior director of ACC’s Economics and Statistics department and author of the analysis, says there has been about $10.5 billion in announced investments for both mechanical and advanced recycling in the U.S. in recent years, with $4.6 billion of that total directed toward advanced recycling facilities, in particular.

Additionally, the report claims that building a stronger recycling system starts with smart, practical policies that encourage innovation and investment, adding that technology-neutral approaches with strong environmental standards that support all forms of recycling will capture more used plastics that can be converted into new products.

Eisenberg adds that legislative action at the federal level, such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) or the ACC’s “5 Actions to Reduce Plastic Waste” plan, among others, could provide a lift to plastics recycling and the U.S. economy.

“Obviously, there’s an environmental component to this,” Eisenberg says. “We want to clean up the environment. But there’s also a jobs component to this, and we don’t want that to be ignored.

“In a perfect world, we’d be starting from scratch [with recycling legislation] and put something together from whole cloth. We’re still committed to federal policy, whether it’s EPR or our ‘5 Actions’ bill, which we hope will be introduced later this year. Without that, we certainly think there are other ways to get there.”

Eisenberg points to the seven states that have passed EPR legislation as potential benefits to the recycling industry, as well as ongoing negotiations for a global plastics treaty, but says the biggest goal is to “supercharge this market.”

“Private interest is there [for recycling infrastructure investments]; we see it from our members,” he says. “Our goal is to try to get the policies right to help make that happen.”

In regard to EPR, Eisenberg says the ACC would prefer to see one harmonized nationwide program rather than programs with different guidelines based on location.

“I think any manufacturing center would tell you that,” he says. “Whether you can get there, given the political realities of how legislation is crafted, is anyone’s guess. We see patchwork coming into place at the state level, and it’s going to be challenging. Maybe avoiding more of a patchwork would be good. Harmonization one way or the other would be good. One program that is consistent is what manufacturers would prefer.”

Eisenberg and Rose-Glowacki also addressed reports from plastic recycling organizations around the globe that point to a surge in inexpensive virgin resin and global oversupply of plastics and their effects on the recycling industry. Rose-Glowacki says overcapacity, in particular, is something ACC hears about in other countries, but not so much in the U.S.

“One of the things that is so beneficial about the recycling piece is that we hear domestic manufacturers taking plastic we have and turning it into new plastics without it leaving our borders, which is great,” she says.

Eisenberg admits the industry is experiencing headwinds, but says he thinks aid could come in the form of an expanded recycling infrastructure in the U.S., as detailed in the analysis.

“There’s an opportunity to create resilient growth here, with permanent jobs that will help offset [shifting plastics markets],” he says. “One of the big opportunities for policymakers here, as the ebb and flow of the global market happens, we can create jobs here by cleaning up our own recycling systems.”