Biodegradable: breaks down via microorganisms over time (conditions vary). 
Compostable: meets specific standards to biodegrade in controlled composting, leaving no toxic residue. 
Recyclable: can be collected and reprocessed into new products.

They’re strong yet lightweight, design-flexible, efficient, and cost-effective—helping protect food, enable medical care, reduce shipping weight, and deliver energy-efficient products and infrastructure.

The global community relies on plastics, which offer benefits related to clean drinking water to low-carbon energy.   

Plastics contribute significantly to multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:   

• SDG 2: Zero Hunger – Plastic packaging helps reduce spoilage and food waste. The UN estimates a third of all food produced never reaches people.  

• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation – Modern, long-lasting plastic pipes can support new water infrastructure, improve its resiliency and cut energy use.   

• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy – Plastics are efficient materials that allow us to do more with less. The “strength-to-weight” ratio is why plastic is often relied upon for green technologies such as lightweighting vehicles and wind and solar energy infrastructure.  

• SDG 13: Climate Action: Use of plastics in consumer products and packaging can reduce GHGs compared to many alternatives – research shows by about 2.5 times. One analysis found that in 13 of 14 cases plastics lowered greenhouse gas emissions compared to alternatives. That analysis demonstrated that in terms of both product lifecycle and use impact, GHG savings range from 10% to 90%.  

• Lightweight plastics are used to decrease the weight of car parts, which reduces our fuel use and GHGs and increases the battery range of low-carbon EVs.    

• Energy-saving plastic building materials can improve insulation performance (R-value) and help seal a building’s “envelope,” which saves energy and reduces GHGs.   

Simply put, the global community cannot realistically meet its climate commitments without the help of plastics. However, to address plastic pollution, we need to accelerate a circular economy in which plastic products and packaging are sustainably reused or recycled instead of discarded, enabled by a global agreement that unlocks industry innovation and global investment in plastics circularity. The global plastic supply chain is taking concerted steps to move to a more circular ecosystem for plastics.    

Decades of life cycle analyses (LCAs) that study the environmental impacts of consumer goods have offered important insights on how plastics compare to other materials. Many of these studies have shown that:  

• The use of plastic packaging and products can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared to alternatives such as steel, paper, aluminum, and glass.  

• Replacing plastics with alternatives in many applications would significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions.  

Using plastic often results in GHG benefits compared to alternatives primarily because it is strong yet lightweight, meaning plastic requires much less material to perform similar functions. (This is often called “source reduction.”) This impactful “strength-to-weight” ratio means plastic materials used in packaging and products are typically considered more efficient than alternative materials. How much more efficient?  

This is why lightweight plastic packaging typically delivers more food and drink per pound and per unit than alternatives.  

The latest U.S. Plastic Recycling Study from Stina and the Association for Plastic Recyclers found more than 5 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic were recovered for recycling in 2022.

Several factors contribute: not all communities have curbside programs; many recycling facilities still lack the technology to handle today’s wide variety of plastics; and consumer participation is inconsistent. New technologies and infrastructure investments are helping to modernize and scale recycling nationwide. 

Plastics aren’t captured as effectively as they could be.  Some people are confused about how to recycle or do not have convenient recycling services. The “chop-and-wash” traditional processing technologies were not designed to deal with the complex and highly variable plastics in our waste streams today. About 83% of the plastic packaging that could be recycled curbside is not being put in the bin, according to The Recycling Partnership’s 2024 State of Recycling report. 

Yes. Recycling plastic helps keep valuable materials out of landfills and the environment, gives resources a second life, and reduces energy use and carbon emissions compared to making new plastic.  

Recycling plastic can: 

• Reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills or as pollution. 
• Reduce carbon emissions and save fossil resources. 
• Give materials a second life in new products. 

Today, most plastic in the U.S. is still not recovered—about 90% ends up in a landfill or is incinerated. Improving access to recycling and expanding public-private partnerships can help ensure more materials are captured and reused. 

Mechanical recycling is a physical process (grinding, washing, separating, drying, re-granulating, compounding) that turns used plastic into reusable material (often pellets), effective for many bottles/containers but limited for complex items. Advanced recycling breaks plastics down at the molecular level, helping process mixed, layered, and soiled plastics and enabling like-new material for demanding uses. 
  

Advanced recycling is a set of innovative manufacturing processes that use chemistry to transform the chemical structure of post-use plastics back to their basic chemical or molecular components. These technologies convert plastics that would otherwise be discarded into building blocks that can be remade into new plastics—including virgin-quality materials for food, medical, and pharmaceutical applications. 

Unlike traditional mechanical recycling, advanced recycling can handle many plastics that are typically hard to recycle, such as films, multilayer packaging, and mixed plastics. By complementing mechanical recycling, it expands what can be recycled and increases the amount of recycled content available for use in new products. 

Advanced recycling is important because it can help: 

• Recycle hard-to-recycle plastics like films, layered packaging, and mixed materials. 
• Recover more of the ~90% of plastics that aren’t recycled today. 
• Transition plastic manufacturing from a linear to a circular model. 
• Reduce the need for new natural resources to create plastics. 
• Produce high-quality plastics suitable for sensitive applications like food and medicine. 

In traditional, mechanical recycling, some types of plastic can degrade slightly each time they are recycled. In some cases, they can’t be recycled more than once or twice. However, even in these instances, plastic may find opportunity for a new life in a different product – often a durable product that has a longer lifespan for use. Milk jugs can be turned into clothing, furniture, or even speakers, for example. While this can be referred to as “downcycling,” a more appropriate term that is used is “open-loop recycling,” which just means a product has found value as something new – while keeping it out of the landfill.  

Open-loop recycling can help keep materials in use, reduce consumption of raw materials, and avoid the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with resource extraction and production.  

Turning plastic bottles into fleece or carpet fiber and converting paper into paper towels, tissue paper, or egg cartons are examples of open-loop recycling.  

Additionally, plastic bags and wraps may go on to become durable, low maintenance lumber for your backyard deck or fence. One of the largest recyclers of plastic bags is Trex – a 500-square foot composite Trex deck contains about 140,000 recycled plastic bags!   
  

Recycling is a complex system. To recycle plastic, an interwoven chain of players must work in concert. The plastic recycling chain can be viewed as a virtuous circle in which each player enables another.   

As the diagram indicates:  

• Raw materials companies provide “feedstocks” to make plastic.  
• Plastic makers manufacture plastic materials.  
• Plastic converters use plastic materials to make packaging and products.  
• Product companies sell products (in packaging) to consumers.  
• Consumers deposit recyclable products and packaging in recycling bins.  
• Sorters separate various plastics from each other and other materials.  
• Collectors pick up recyclables from consumers.  

There is no start or finish to the plastic recycling chain. All players must play their part to successfully recycle plastic.     

Innovations to strengthen recycling are increasing, with more effective sorting technologies – including artificial intelligence, robotics, and near-infrared optics – being introduced to enable more post-use plastics to be recycled. 
 

The recycling rate is the amount of post-use materials recycled as a percentage of the total generated, generally measured by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, though other third-party organizations also gather this data for specific materials. The EPA hasn’t calculated recycling rates since 2018, so the latest available EPA figure is from that year, along with the 2022 U.S. Post-consumer Plastic Recycling Study from the Association of Plastic Recyclers. 

(Source: Association of Plastic Recyclers)  

The U.S. has collected about 5 billion pounds of plastics annually from homes for more than a decade, but we have the capacity to recycle much more. Increasing recycling will require better education and greater participation. 

The recycling rate for plastic packaging is around 13%, and much of it is not collected for recycling because today’s system was not designed to process many of the packaging types used today. 

There are efforts in the U.S. to modernize recycling infrastructure (more domestic processing, better sortation) and educate consumers about what can be recycled, aligning with EPA’s National Recycling Goal/Strategy and leveraging market demand for recycled content to drive investment. 

We’re throwing valuable material away every day. Why is this happening?  

1. Plastics aren’t captured as effectively as they could be. People are confused about how to recycle or do not have convenient recycling services at home, work, or school. These barriers translate into low capture and high contamination rates. For example, a Recycling Partnership study found only 73% of households in America have access to recycling and only 43% of households participate in recycling.  

The “chop-and-wash” traditional processing technologies used for the past few decades were not designed to deal with the complex and highly variable plastics in our waste streams today. Mechanical recycling works well for certain plastic packaging but is limited in its ability to sort and process films and labels, chip bags, synthetic fibers, and other “mixed plastics.” 

But progress is being made. Many companies are working to make their plastic packaging easier to recycle. Large brands are demanding more plastic containing recycled content to meet sustainability goals. So, many of today’s plastic makers are creating some of their products with recycled plastic and announcing plans for more. These trends support a self-reinforcing loop: easier-to-recycle packaging, more market demand for recycled plastic, and more recycled plastic.  

Brands need more recycled content in plastics to meet sustainability goals and state recycled content laws. These trends can support a self-reinforcing loop: easier-to-recycle packaging, more market demand for recycled plastic, and more recycled plastic. 
 

Many of the world’s largest consumer brands and retailers, including Coca-Cola, Danone, Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, Walmart, and others have made public commitments to use more recycled plastics in their packaging, signaling the market opportunity to invest in more circular solutions. Their actions can keep more plastics out of landfills and in use, while reducing our reliance on virgin fossil resources. Continued innovations and investments in our recycling systems and infrastructure can help us meet that demand.  

In addition to market shifts, state policies are also helping to increase demand for recycled plastics. Washington State and New Jersey, for example, have enacted minimum recycled content requirements for certain non-beverage bottle plastic packaging. Additionally, states that have enacted packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) and other laws are expected to drive increased use of recycled material. For example, in Oregon, EPR fees must consider the recycled content of a covered item.    

• Demand for recycled plastic is strong and growing, but the current supply – estimated at about 6% of demand – is limited by recycling infrastructure and household collection rates. 

The media often focuses the “plastic waste” conversation on single-use plastics. However, two-thirds of plastics in the U.S. come from non-packaging sources, and the current mechanical recycling system isn’t equipped to handle them effectively. Fortunately, advanced recycling technologies are emerging, enabling the recycling of many textiles, healthcare wastes, and various durable goods. This category, known as “bulky rigids,” includes items such as appliances, building materials, and automobile parts. It is essential that we stop thinking of plastic as waste and start treating it as a resource. 

Many large brands are committing to use more recycled plastics, increasing demand for recycled material. But supplies remain limited due to gaps in collection and recycling infrastructure. Addressing this challenge will require scaling technologies that keep plastics in play and expanding investments in collection, sortation, and recycling. These solutions can also help decrease reliance on fossil resources, lower landfill disposal costs for municipalities, and reduce marine pollution.  
 

Yes. A circular system where materials are collected and reused is possible with mechanical and advanced recycling as complementary technologies to keep plastics in use. 

Modernizing recycling creates U.S. jobs, attracts private investment, and strengthens domestic manufacturing by providing reliable supplies of recycled materials. 

By passing bipartisan legislation—such as the STEWARD Act, the Recycling Infrastructure Advancement Act, the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act —policymakers can help modernize infrastructure, expand mechanical and advanced recycling, and create a steady stream of recycled plastic for U.S. manufacturers. 

PCR stands for “post-consumer recycled” or sometimes the product is known as “post-consumer resin” when referring to recycled plastic.   

A broader term, “post-use plastic,” is sometimes used and refers to materials entering the recycling stream from residential, municipal, industrial, community, or commercial sources.  

Post-industrial, also referred to sometimes as “pre-consumer plastic recovered material,” is material that has never reached the end user, having been diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. An example of this that is used in the advanced recycling stream is the trimming from the making of diapers.   

Post-industrial plastics, as well as medical waste, are not calculated in EPA’s recycling rates or in the Post-Consumer Plastic Recycling Study.  

A MRF (pronounced “merf”) is a commonly used acronym for a “materials recovery facility.” A MRF is a facility that receives the mixed items people put into recycling bins and separates them into single streams of like materials to be sold to buyers. This process is referred to as sortation. And while it has traditionally been a manual job, new technologies such as robotics, optical scanners, and AI are making it much more efficient and can create higher yields.  

The materials that can’t be “baled” for sale sometimes go through a secondary sortation that pulls out items that can be sold to other industries, including advanced recycling operations. A small percentage of materials gets landfilled if there is no “end market” for them, usually the result of people “wishcycling,” meaning putting things in the recycling bin that cannot be recycled.   

Unfortunately, incorrect items can end up contaminating good recyclables and can potentially damage the equipment in recycling facilities and reduce recovery rates — and, in some cases, cause harm to employees.  

The Recycling Partnership offers a map of U.S. MRFs. 

Our industry is investing in innovations that reduce the potential for plastics to enter the environment. Designing products for reuse and recyclability, expanding recycling infrastructure, and supporting cutting-edge research are priorities. We are collaborating with scientists, governments, and businesses to unlock targeted, science-based solutions.

Innovations in product design and recycling technologies are making it easier to reuse plastics. Advanced recycling technologies also help conserve natural resources and reduce the environmental footprint of plastic.

Yes. Globally, our industry has supported over 100 researchers across 37 institutions to advance the science on microplastics. Through the Microplastics Advanced Research and Innovation Initiative (MARII) platform, we facilitate global collaboration to enhance research quality and consistency. 

To date, leading health authorities—including the FDA and WHO—have found that while the current scientific data is of poor quality, the current weight of evidence does not show microplastics pose a risk to human health. Science and innovation, not speculation, should guide how we address this complex issue. 

We support science-based policies that target solutions based on a real assessment of risks, encourage innovation, foster public-private partnerships, provide regulatory certainty, recognize distinctions between intentionally added and unintentionally generated microplastics, and oppose fragmented or symbolic policies.

We believe blanket bans or symbolic caps often miss the mark. Instead, we support targeted, fact-based interventions—like improved wastewater treatment and enhanced recycling systems. 

Multiple life-cycle assessments have found that the use of plastics typically requires less energy and generates fewer GHGs than alternatives in comparable uses, due to strength-to-weight and performance attributes.

Plastics enable lighter EV components for a longer lasting battery charge, plus more efficient renewable energy systems (e.g., wind/solar).

EPR is a policy framework that assigns producers a funding and management role in collection and recycling systems, aligning design decisions with end-of-life outcomes and improving program consistency. 

For all materials, including plastics, EPR can help drive higher recycling rates and help ensure more packaging and products are collected, sorted, and reprocessed into new materials. When designed well, EPR programs can support investment in modern recycling infrastructure, incentivize the use of recycled content, and encourage innovation in packaging design to improve recyclability and reduce waste. Poorly designed EPR systems, however, can increase costs for consumers and manufacturers without delivering meaningful environmental benefits.

Advanced recycling facilities purchase cleaned, sorted plastic that would otherwise be discarded to use as a feedstock to create chemical building blocks that can be used to make new products – the basics of what manufacturing is. Treating advanced recycling as manufacturing appropriately regulates the technology and encourages investment and innovation that expands U.S. recycling and manufacturing capacity.

Operation Clean Sweep goes beyond voluntary guidance—it now includes mandatory quarterly data reporting and third-party inspections for OCS Blue and OCS Logistics members in the U.S., bringing together producers, shippers, and converters to prevent plastic resin loss at every step.