Reduce, reuse, recycle – we've all heard it a hundred times. This year, the need to reduce what we buy and the value of reusing and repairing what we can has hit home. But everything has an end to its useful life, and that is where recycling comes in. Recycling is a necessary and important part of sustainability that prevents waste and reduces the ...

APR President and CEO Steve Alexander answers questions about a new law in California that sets minimum post-consumer resin content requirements for plastic bottles. What is AB-793? AB 793 is a new law in California, passed unanimously by the California legislature and signed into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom on August 28, 2020, that req...

In 2017 there was a perfect storm for the plastics recycling industry in the United States.  With China's National Sword policy, U.S. recyclers suddenly lost a market for 65% of curbside-collected polypropylene, including nearly all bulky rigids. At the same time, a tsunami of virgin resin hit the marketplace, with over 50 million pounds (260 ...

The success of plastic recycling is dependent on consistent demand from brand companies and manufacturers. As brand companies continue to publicly state a wide variety of sustainability commitments that commonly include increased postconsumer resin (PCR) content and design for recyclability, it would seem the two industries could naturally work han...

On Earth Day, just like every day, APR is the "Voice of Plastics Recycling." We work with our members at every link of the plastics industry supply chain to strengthen the circular economy and create a more sustainable, less wasteful world. This year's Earth Day theme is climate action. It is abundantly clear that an effective recycling chain is of...

The Frontline program, "Plastic Wars," revisited old, anti-recycling messages and ignored many recent successes of the plastic recycling industry fueled by technology and innovation. The program highlighted a number of challenges facing the plastic recycling industry, but failed to show how APR and our member companies are taking on – and overcomin...

This Global Recycling Day, people across the world are celebrating recycling as the key to sustainability. Plastics at the end of their useful life are not waste, but a tremendous environmental and economic opportunity. As recyclers, we capture this valuable resource and return it to the circular economy. We are the ones who close the loop. But tod...

Today, plastics recyclers are shouldering the burden of an increasingly complex waste stream. In the face of this enormous undertaking, innovations in recycling technology and packaging design are driving growth, sustainability, and profitability in our industry. This year at the annual APR Technical Forum and Recycling Showcase, we are pleased to ...

A primary goal at The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) is to further the circular economy by dramatically increasing the volume of plastic that is recycled back into marketable products.Brand owners make new public commitments on almost a weekly basis to use significantly more recycled content in their products and packages. It is essential t...

Last week, the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) held the first ever APR Design® for Plastics Recyclability Regional Training Conference. Consumer brand companies, resin producers, packaging manufacturers, and others assembled to learn how materials flow through the recycling system. Van Dyk Recycling Solutions hosted the event at its state-of...

Amidst all the media coverage about plastic recycling, the team at APR has produced a new video to help shine a light on an important missing part of the conversation: Demand drives recycling. The recently released video explains that consumers can and do play an integral role in the effectiveness of the recycling chain – both by putting recyclable...

Authored by Lynn Rubinstein, Executive Director of the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) and Steve Alexander, President of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) Most people in the recycling community know that recycling is alive and well in the United States. Although there are current adjustments due to the actions of China, there are market...

Reposted from Silgan Dispensing's website on May 6, 2019.For today's consumers, sustainable packaging isn't a "nice to have" anymore. With 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic waste residing in landfills, consumers are more environmentally minded than ever before. In fact, 37% of millennials check packaging labels for sustainability and 52% of consum...

This was originally posted on The Hill on February 28, 2019. Recently on Capitol Hill, the plastics industry gathered congressional staff and reporters together to highlight a billion-dollar campaign designed to rid the ocean of plastic. At the event, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) announced the reintroduction of legi...

The headlines about the rippling effect of China's National Sword continue. Recycling facilities left with material. China's Sword cutting deep into recycling. Lasting effects of China's Sword. Where will all the plastics go? Although these headlines are of great concern, The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) believes that China's action serve...

Samuel Adams' Founder Jim Koch once stated, "They don't teach you this in Harvard Business School, but it's all about people. Everything happens by, with or through people. Nothing just happens on its own." In the recycling world, it's no different. From where I sit at the SC Department of Commerce, without a workforce, the bottles and jugs that ar...

This article was written by Keefe Harrison and originally published in Recycling Today on June 7, 2017. With the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, announced June 1, 2017, the federal government, which was the first entity to create environmental regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the use of landfills...

I had the opportunity to attend the recent investor participant workshop of New Plastics Economy (NPE) initiative of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation last week in Brooklyn. More than 100 brand owners, activists, and other industry representatives were in attendance. The NPE is focused on creating a Global Plastic Protocol for plastic packaging as par...