Policy Position

Advanced Recycling: Strenghtening U.S. Recycling and Manufacturing

America’s Plastic Makers® support recognizing advanced recycling as a manufacturing process and as a source of recycled content that counts toward plastics recycling rates and recycled-content goals. Because advanced recycling transforms used plastics into the building blocks for new plastics, not into waste, these facilities should be regulated as manufacturing rather than solid waste operations. 

Advanced recycling technologies use chemistry to break plastics down at the molecular level, allowing mixed, layered, and hard-to-recycle plastics to be processed into new, high-quality plastics, including materials suitable for food, medical, and pharmaceutical applications. These technologies can help keep valuable materials out of landfills and in the U.S. economy, strengthening domestic supply chains and increasing access to recycled plastics for American manufacturers. 

How Advanced Recycling Supports U.S. Recycling Goals and Sustainability

Advanced recycling can significantly expand the amount and types of plastics the U.S. is able to recycle today. By converting plastics that are not commonly recycled at scale into new raw materials, these technologies help increase plastic recycling rates and support state, federal, and company recycled-content goals. 

Advanced recycling can also reduce the use of virgin resources and lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional production of certain plastics. Studies show that advanced recycling facilities have air emissions similar to other light-manufacturing operations, including medical centers and universities. Importantly, advanced recycling does not involve incineration or burning of plastics. 

Importantly, advanced recycling does not involve incineration or burning of plastics.

Learn more about advanced recycling.

Smart Public Policies Can Help Meet Recycling Goals

Public policies on advanced recycling for plastic at the local, state, federal and international levels should embrace the following two principles.

1. Advanced Recycling = Recycling

Plastic produced through advanced recycling should be recognized in law and regulation as recycled plastic. This classification ensures advanced recycling contributes to: 

  • State and federal plastics recycling targets 
  • Recycled-content goals and mandates 
  • Recycling requirements within extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs 

Plastic products derived from advanced or mechanical recycling should count equally toward recycled-content requirements. Independent certification systems should be used to verify and report recycled plastic use, including through the use of mass balance accounting where appropriate. 

Federal agencies have important roles: 

  • FTC should expressly recognize verifiable recycled-content claims for plastics made through advanced recycling. 
  • FDA should support appropriate clearances for food-contact applications. 
  • Products made using advanced recycling that are marketed as fuels should not count as recycled. 

2. Advanced Recycling = Manufacturing

Advanced recycling facilities turn used plastics into new materials and should be regulated as manufacturing, not solid waste incineration. Treating these facilities as manufacturing: 

  • Provides appropriate environmental and safety oversight 
  • Ensures siting and permitting consistency with similar industrial facilities 
  • Strengthens U.S. competitiveness by expanding domestic production of recycled plastics 
  • Supports a circular economy by keeping materials in use rather than discarding them 
  • Will help scale new recycling technologies, modernize U.S. recycling infrastructure, and expand access to high-quality recycled plastics. 

Advanced Recycling Helps Build a Circular Economy

Advanced recycling can help significantly increase U.S. plastic recycling rates by expanding what can be collected, processed, and remade. By keeping used plastics in circulation and supporting the production of high-quality recycled plastics, advancing recycling is an essential tool for reducing plastic waste, improving U.S. sustainability, strengthening U.S. manufacturing and accelerating a circular economy, globally.

RELATED RESOURCES

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Circularity: Eliminating Plastic Waste
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