Donna Dempsey, executive director, Ameripen10.24.13
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 51% of packaging is recycled, making it the second highest rate of product categories measured. Yet, because packaging still makes up an estimated 23% of disposed municipal solid waste, consumers and environmental groups are clamoring for even more recovery of used packaging.
We agree that packaging is too valuable to waste!
In order to do more, we began our efforts by researching a variety of recovery systems both in the United States and throughout the world, specifically in Europe, Canada, and Australia. We've summarized our conclusions in a white paper entitled "AMERIPEN Analysis of Strategies and Financial Platforms to Increase the Recovery of Used Packaging" (available at our website, www.ameripen.org).
Not surprisingly, we found that success depends on a multiple-system or “toolbox” approach. No single strategy operates independently: each helps to create a mutually reinforcing system of recovery that addresses multiple priorities.
We now believe that any assessment of strategies for adoption within the U.S. requires a comprehensive understanding of specific waste management systems, an understanding of the interplay and interrelationships of these various approaches, and an assessment of their application within unique challenges and opportunities.
Our research shows significant opportunity to expand certain best practices that are currently under-utilized and highly fragmented in the U.S.
Both this report and others that we have commissioned indicate that the strategies that hold the most promise for adoption here include unit-based pricing/pay as you throw (PAYT) initiatives, disposal bans, and recycling mandates. These approaches can collectively help shift consumer practices away from waste disposal and toward recycling and other recovery strategies.
These three tools have shown proven results that, when implemented together, can better utilize our existing infrastructure.
Additionally, voluntary financing mechanisms designed to grow recycling infrastructure should be explored as a way to drive support and innovation; for example, industry-funded project grants, similar to those utilized in Australia and Ontario, Canada.
We need your help! Please let me know of your company’s interest in recovering packaging and reducing waste. Together, we can close the gap between what we can ultimately recover and what we are recovering today.