Recycling Leadership Council forms to modernize US recycling system for plastics

Led by the Consumer Brands Association, a broad coalition called the Recycling Leadership Council (RLC) has formed with the purpose of working with Congress to spur recycling innovation and American manufacturing by modernizing the country’s recycling system to better manage plastics throughout their life cycle.

The group includes companies representing the recycling, manufacturing, packaging and consumer products sectors, and includes:

• Ag Container Recycling Council;
• Alliance for Automotive Innovation;
• American Chemistry Council;
• American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers;
• Closed Loop Partners;
• Council for Responsible Nutrition;
• Household & Commercial Products Association;
• International Sleep Products Association;
• Meat Institute;
• National Lubricant Container Recycling Coalition;
• North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers;
• Retail Industry Leaders Association; and
• Vinyl Institute

“To reduce plastic waste, we must modernize our recycling system,” says John Hewitt, senior vice president at the Arlington, Virginia-based Consumer Brands Association. “The formation of the Recycling Leadership Council is a pivotal step toward transforming how America manages plastic waste. Leaders across technology, automotive, consumer goods, toys and other industries are working together to meaningfully address policies and practices that prohibit plastic recycling at scale.”

RLC notes that plastic is “integral to modern life,” keeping food fresh, enabling life-saving medical devices, protecting electronics, making transportation lighter and more efficient and keeping products affordable, among other applications.

The coalition says that as demand grows for plastic products, so does the volume of plastic waste, requiring “urgent, coordinated action” that begins with addressing “outdated frameworks” that fail to recognize emerging recycling technologies and lower consumer confidence in recycling labels and claims.

“The RLC is united in support of policy frameworks that will unlock the investment and manufacturing innovation needed to modernize America’s aging recycling infrastructure to adequately handle the amount and types of plastic materials discarded today,” Hewitt says. “The RLC has the strength of America’s leading industries behind it, sending a powerful signal to policymakers and consumers that the urgency to act is here.”