Sustainability

The plastics industry recognizes the importance of sustainability and is dedicated to responsible environmental stewardship. Manufacturers are continuously working to increase recycling rates, reduce emissions from production and transport, and enable circular economies where plastics are reused instead of discarded. These efforts are essential for the industry’s license to operate and grow.

The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) supports members across all industry sectors in their sustainability efforts. We bring together over 850 members across the plastics value chain. As the voice of the plastics industry, we take an innovative, collaborative approach to important environmental issues. This involves extensive advocacy, standards development, resource sharing, and stimulating new ideas.

Bioplastics are a sustainable material composed of renewable, plant-based resources and/or plastics that fully biodegrade after use. They offer environmental advantages over conventional plastics for certain applications, such as packaging, agriculture, medical devices, and automotive parts.

The PLASTICS Bioplastics Division promotes types of bioplastics that are either:

• Made from renewable feedstocks such as corn, sugarcane, or algae (biobased). This reduces reliance on finite fossil fuels.
• Able to completely break down through natural processes after use (biodegradable). This diverts waste from landfills.
• Both biobased and biodegradable.

Bioplastics provide sustainability benefits including:

• Reduced carbon footprint and global warming impact from renewable biobased carbon content
• Repeated recyclability for those designed with recycling in mind

PLASTICS educates members, policymakers, and the value chain on bioplastics types, benefits, terminology, standards, and appropriate descriptions and labels. We also recognize product and process innovations through our annual Innovation in Bioplastics Award.

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Through New End Market Opportunities (NEMO) projects, PLASTICS facilitates industry collaboration including trade associations and academics to enhance the recycling of specific plastic products. These multi-stakeholder initiatives:

• Improve reuse rates by addressing recycling challenges
• Work across the supply chain to align all participants on the solutions
• Generate data and conduct demonstration projects to prove concepts
• Share results publicly to advance broader understanding and adoption

Recent projects have funded collection studies and new process equipment to expand the recycling of plastics from end-of-life vehicles and durable goods, flexible films, as well as improving regional sorting capabilities.

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The PLASTICS Recycling Committee convenes equipment manufacturers, brand owners and packaging designers, resin and recycling processors, as well as material suppliers to align and make post-use plastic recycling a priority. As the voice spanning the whole supply chain, PLASTICS takes a leadership role on recycling issues.

The Committee focuses collaborative efforts on:

• Advocating for improved collection and recycling infrastructure
• Ensuring recycling definitions recognize advanced recovery technologies
• Educating stakeholders on plastics recycling processes and benefits
• Demonstrating new methods and technologies through pilot projects
• Fostering partnerships to address systemic challenges
• Providing web resources such as educational webinars and benchmarking data

A major initiative is the annual Plastics Recycling Week campaign on social media to share educational messaging and success stories.

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