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Plastic Recycling October 10, 2017 01:30:52 PM

Leading Associations Join Hands to Design Plastics Recycling Testing Protocols

Paul Ploumis
ScrapMonster Author
The alliance will provide a set of guidelines to companies to make sure that they create packaging and products that can easily be reclaimed by the system.

Leading Associations Join Hands to Design Plastics Recycling Testing Protocols

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Three major plastics recycling organizations have formed a partnership to coordinate efforts on testing protocols of recyclable plastics materials. The Global Plastics Outreach Alliance, formed by The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), Washington; Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE), Brussels; and the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP), aims to harmonize global testing protocols related to plastic recycling. The new alliance is designed to serve as a coordinated voice for the plastics recycling industry.

According to Steve Alexander, president of APR, there exist differences among companies on their protocols. Due to this, companies may sometimes require to conduct three separate tests to achieve the same recyclability design. The new coalition will work towards clarifying those differences and aligning various segments in order to create a globally accepted uniform testing protocol to the benefit of consumer brand companies, Alexander said.

Tom Emans, president of PRE mentioned the vast efforts carried out till date, which have led to significant improvement to the ability and quality of recyclable materials. The newly formed coalition of trade groups will help in creation of a coordinated voice for the entire plastics recycling industry.

As a result of the group’s effort, packaging engineers and designers could find it easy to identify the protocol that any new innovation should address in order to ensure recyclability. The combined attempt will provide much needed momentum to the creation of global plastics recycling industry standard for certain resins, said Andreas Christel of EPBP.

The Global Plastics Outreach Alliance will also provide valuable information to Ellen McArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy (NPE) Program. Incidentally, NPE is a three-year initiative that brings together all key stakeholders by promoting circular economy through innovative rethink and redesign of future plastics, starting with packaging. The alliance will provide a set of guidelines to companies to make sure that they create packaging and products that can easily be reclaimed by the system.

In addition, the alliance will also participate in the APR meet to be held on Oct 17, 2017 at Pittsburgh and the PRE meet to be held Nov 23, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary. Further, it will provide updates on the industry at the Plastics Recycling Conference to be held in February next year in Nashville, Tennessee.

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