The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, D.C., has released new specifications that it says are designed to modernize, standardize and streamline the trading of plastic scrap.
The specifications, approved by the association’s board of directors, have been designed to provide buyers and sellers of plastic scrap with a set of common terms and definitions that can be used when they establish their business relationships.
“As plastics have been increasingly recycled, ISRI’s plastic scrap specifications needed to be updated,” says ISRI President Robin Wiener. “We have seen a clear need for common ground when it comes to specifications for recycled plastics. One of our priorities here at ISRI is to ensure the free and fair trade of commodities in a way that can be understood in our global economy.”
Jonathan Cohen, president of Generated Materials Recovery, Phoenix, and chair of ISRI’s Plastic Recycling Council, says, “Historically, the recyclable plastics commodities market has been plagued with confusion surrounding the acceptable specifications of even the most commonly traded grades [of plastic]. This has resulted in increased market transaction costs and risk for all parties. As such, the overarching objective of the ISRI Scrap Specs initiative is to help improve market efficiency by establishing clear guidelines for the major grades of plastics traded by ISRI members on a national and international basis. It is our expectation that similar to the long-established ISRI specs for metals and fiber, the plastics specifications will become widely used throughout the global marketplace.”
The updated plastics specifications and definitions can be viewed at www.recyclingtoday.com/FileUploads/file/Recycling/ISRI%20Plastic%20Specifications.pdf.