The American Chemistry Council (ACC) on Tuesday proposed to US Congress five steps that can be taken to immediately grow the circular economy for plastics. The strategy, called “Big, Bold Steps,” includes requiring all plastic packaging to contain at least 30% recycled plastic by 2030, creating a modern regulatory system to support advanced recycling, and establishing producer responsibility systems to help increase recycling access, collection, and outreach for all materials.
In the initiative, the ACC also asked Congress to direct the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a national recycling framework for plastics. It also calls a study on the impacts of raw materials by the National Academy of Sciences to be used to guide future policies.
Independent research found only 12% of plastics were recycled in the US in 2020, while the rest were disposed of by exportation, incineration, or ended up in a landfill. Under current measures, mechanical recycling can result in a recycling rate of only 16% in packaging. Meanwhile, a combination of chemical and mechanical recycling can achieve a 30% recycling rate in plastic packaging by 2030 and 40% by 2040. Several companies have set voluntary goals to use a minimum of 25% of recycled materials in their packaging by 2025.
