The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry has made sustainability, particularly packaging sustainabilit y, a top priority.
With unprecedented commitments to improving the design of packaging — from source reduction, to fully recyclable or compostable design, to using recycled content — the CPG industry is packaging with the planet in mind to reduce our footprint.
Packaging plays a vital role in protecting the safety and quality of our products.
Recyclable packaging can still play that vital role and be used repeatedly if there is a system capable of economically collecting and processing those materials.
Today, that system is at a breaking point and recyclable packaging ends up where it shouldn’t — in landfills , where valuable materials are no longer available for reuse or are polluting the environment.
This inflection point presents a tremendous opportunity to rethink the U.S. recycling and recovery system for the 21st century .
The following perspective represents the Consumer Brands Association’s recommended approach to achieving America’s recycling future and creating the system the U.S. needs.
Guiding Principles
The current recycling rates for some packaging materials are far too low.
Many parts of the U.S. recycling system have not been updated in a decade and, as a result, the system is not working as it should, with valuable materials going to landfills.
Innovative, transformative interventions are needed to improve the performance of the system and create critical change.
Fixing and strengthening the recycling system is a shared responsibility.
A circular economy requires all stakeholders at the table to drive change. Real solutions must be scalable, marketbased, measurable and impactful.
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