Stifel dialog points to packaging recycling emphasis

Producers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and the packaging firms that serve them are moving beyond policies that focus on smaller or lighter weight packages and are taking “a more holistic approach that could lead to a step-change toward a circular economy for packaging.”

That was one of the findings of an October ESG and Impact Summit held by Baltimore-based investment analysis and research firm Stifel Equity Research.

A postevent brief of the summit prepared by Stifel’s Michael E. Hoffman indicates “there is a willingness to set goals with timelines to convert consumer packaging [within] the confines of the current infrastructure to recover, separate and reuse the materials in place of virgin materials.”

Contributors to the sessions that comprised the Impact Summit included representatives from FMCG companies Campbell Soup and Procter & Gamble (P&G) as well as Pete Keller, vice president of recycling and sustainability at Phoenix-based waste hauler and material recovery facility (MRF) operator Republic Services Inc.

Panelists did not portray an easy path to full packaging circularity. Challenges listed by Hoffman in his recap include “supply, safety, quality (breakage/damage) and shipping/distribution” hurdles. Participants nonetheless indicated that “curbside collection and MRF processing can meet the demands of the changes in packaging.”

Hoffman also writes, “MRF investments are being made to modernize and therefore successfully pull out quality reusable materials.”

Regulations can either help or hurt, panelists indicated. Extended producer responsibility (EPR) “does not improve circularity [but] it may improve assurance of the financial viability of a residential recycling program,” according to the Stifel recap.

Panelists were uncertain about the impact of California’s AB-793 law, which seems focused on ensuring that “virtually 100 percent of the addressable reusable plastics would go to California to meet the criteria of the legislation.”

With or without such legislation, both Campbell and P&G have set goals and targets with deadlines. Campbell says by 2030 it intends to transition 100 percent of packaging to recycling or industrial compostable design and increase the use of recycled content wherever possible.

P&G’s goals and deadlines for 2030 include incorporating 25 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) into bottles made of that material; reducing its use of virgin petroleum-derived plastic by 50 percent and ensuring that 100 percent of its packaging globally will be recyclable or reusable.

P&G has been a backer of Florida-based PureCycle Technologies, a company that is using technology partially developed by P&G to boost the recycling of polypropylene packaging, which is commonly used by P&G and other FMCG companies.

The Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference Webinar Series will feature a session Oct. 26 from noon to 1:30 eastern time, Circularity & Packaging: What Does It Mean For Recycling?, that will include Hoffman and Bell as well as David Feber of McKinsey & Co. and Kelly McNamara of Numera Analytics. The event is free to attend. Register at http://paperplasticsna.recyclingtodayevents.com/page/webinarpricing.