The Recycling Leadership Council wants to reimagine the current, flawed system.

The Consumer Brands Association, formerly known as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, has brought together a diverse group of professionals from the packaging industry as well as other members of the recycling ecosystem to form the Recycling Leadership Council, which convened for the first time in mid-January.

Their stated goal is to reimagine America’s recycling system, which they say is weakening. According to their research, 96 percent of consumers find recycling to be confusing and frustrating. The group calls its framework “The American Recycling Roadmap,” and among its objectives is consistency in the recycling system, to be accomplished through advocacy at the federal, state, and local levels.

The Recycling Leadership Council’s first meeting was hosted by the Senate Recycling Caucus co-chairs, Senators John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.). While the Council’s aim is to help consumers tackle the plastic waste crisis by teaching them how to be active and educated participants in recycling, with nearly 10,000 unique recycling systems and corresponding sets of rules, they say that getting it right will require fundamental changes to how we recycle in America. The Council states that its membership is united by the following guiding principles:

  • Pursue big ideas to create modern and scalable solutions that maintain the affordability, safety, and reliability of consumer products.
  • Seek uniformity of recycling rules and practices across the entire ecosystem.
  • Identify long-term solutions that take precedence over short-term, competitive interests, with the goal of increasing sustainability and significantly reducing waste.

Consumer Brands Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman convened the meeting with a simple directive: “We have a responsibility to give consumers a roadmap to a system that makes a lot more sense.”

Learn more about what happened at the first meeting of the Recycling Leadership Council here.

AMGRAPH is proud to support efforts like those being undertaken by the Recycling Leadership Council. We believe that sustainability is of paramount importance, and helping both brands and consumers advance that goal is our business. If you are concerned about the growing problem of packaging waste, contact us today! We’ll help you design the right kind of package for your needs, with sustainability and recyclability in mind.