Amcor has joined a partnership to pilot single-stream kerbside recycling of flexible plastics.
The packaging giant is a member of the Materials Recovery for the Future (MRFF) research programme, alongside other companies including Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, and PepsiCo. The pilot scheme, in the borough of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, will generate data to show that kerbside recycling of flexible plastic packaging is a viable option and that the end product has commercial applications.
According to Fabio Peyer, sustainability director and Amcor’s representative to MRFF, 5.4 billion kilograms of flexible plastic packaging is introduced into the market every year, and it is the fastest-growing packaging format.
“People want to be able to recycle flexible packaging, and today that becomes possible for residents in Pottstown. The impact of this program is far larger than one community – the results will inform advances in recycling systems across the country.
“Amcor was the first packaging company to pledge to develop all our packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025, and this project will help that happen in practice,” he said.
Steve Sitka, director of sustainability for Procter & Gamble, said that the project would create a “living lab” for flexible packaging recycling.
“Resident participation is the next step in our research journey as we discover the best ways to fully integrate flexible plastic packaging into the recycling system,” he said.
The recycling will be handled by a local waste management firm.
