A New Report Says Curbside Recycling for Flexible Packaging Shows Promise

The two-year study indicates that tackling the recyclability of flexible packaging is both practical and viable.

Flexible packaging offers so many benefits that make it a great earth-friendly choice—it’s lightweight, it’s durable, and it reduces the amount of material used, to name just a few. But recyclability has always been a challenge. Now, a pilot program has been conducted that shows some real promise in that area, too.

According to a recent report issued by the Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF) consortium, this pilot program studied nearly 60,000 households in Pennsylvania. The households were allowed to put film plastic (like bags and wraps) into their regular recycling bins, and the results were evaluated over a two-year period. They found that it was practical and viable to recycle flexible plastic packaging through curbside collection.

The report also provided some recommendations on how to scale up flexible packaging recycling, including providing more recycling bins to residents so more material can be collected, and investing in recycling facility upgrades to automate sorting to capture more of the material.

In the end, the project diverted more than 2.7 million pounds of flexible plastic packaging from landfills.

“Plastic films and wraps are lightweight, thin and effective at preserving food and protecting packaged goods with little material,” said Shari Jackson, director of plastics sustainability at the American Chemistry Council, who was quoted in the organization’s press release about the study. “Curbside recycling of plastic films should be easy for consumers in order to improve recycling rates.”