Connecticut DEEP looks to elevate plastics recycling

HARTFORD (Scrap Monster):  The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has aligned itself with an industry-backed effort to increase the voluntary recycling of plastic bags, films and packaging.

The Wrap Action Recycling Program (WRAP), which is a public awareness and outreach campaign organized by the American Chemistry Council, announced this week that it has partnered with DEEP to help it increase the proper recycling of those materials in the state.

DEEP hopes the program will help it reach its goal of increasing the state's solid-waste diversion rate to 60 percent by 2024.

Though they aren't supposed to, many Connecticut residents still throw plastic shopping bags into their single-stream recycling bins. Bags tangle sorting machinery at area sorting facilities, often requiring workers to stop machines to clean them out.

But the materials, as long a they are dry and clean, are recyclable and even valuable. Manufacturers use recycled plastic film in outdoor lumber products and to make new packaging.

"Cleaning up our single stream recycling and making our recyclables more marketable is a very high priority," DEEP Commissioner Robert Klee said in a statement.

On its website, WRAP maintains a directory of drop-off locations for various flexible plastic films. The site lists at least several dozen Connecticut store locations, including many large retail chains.

DEEP environmental analyst Sherill Baldwin, who is coordinating the state's interaction with WRAP, said Thursday that one goal of the partnership is to grow that list, and to ensure that the information is accurate.

Baldwin said she is working to build a coalition of municipalities and retailers that want to offer plastic drop-off locations.

The partnership aims to launch a public information campaign in the fall, which will include posters, mailers and other materials provided by WRAP. Baldwin said DEEP does not have marketing dollars for the campaign.

The American Chemistry Council, which counts bag and packaging manufacturers among its membership base, has protested various proposals across the country for bag taxes and bans.

A proposed bag ban in Connecticut didn't get through Connecticut's legislature last year.

DEEP is the third state partner in the WRAP program, following Wisconsin and North Carolina.

Retailers, local governments and others interested in WRAP can contact Baldwin at 860-424-3440.

Courtesy: www.hartfordbusiness.com