Post –consumer film recycling touched new highs in 2013, says ACC

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The latest reports released by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) indicate that the recovery rates of post-consumer films rose significantly during 2013. On the other hand, the recycling of non-bottle rigid plastics dropped during the year. The ‘National Postconsumer Plastics Bag & Film Recycling Report’ was released during the Plastics Recycling Conference-2015 recently held in Dallas.

According to the report compiled by Moore Recycling Associates, the film recycling rates surged higher by 11% during 2013. A total of 1.14 billion pounds of film was recycled during the year. Out of these 58% were exported and the balance 42% were processed by end users in the USA and Canada. The demand for higher value film continued to remain robust, whereas contaminated film demand remained weak on account of Chinese Green Fence regulations.

Recycling of commercial clear film totaled 516 million pounds, accounting for nearly 50% of US film recycling. The recycling rates grew by over 10% in 2013 when compared with the previous year. The recycling of commercial mixed color film also surged higher by 51% to 236 million pounds. The mixed film collection at retail and grocery outlets increased significantly by 37% to 248 million pounds. Meantime, the recycling of curbside film plunged heavily by 71% over the year to 8 million pounds.

As per the report, recycling of non-bottle rigid plastics fell slightly by 1% to just over 1 billion pounds. The Chinese regulations on imports adversely affected exports of non-bottle rig plastics for recovery. Meanwhile, the domestic reclamation rates continued to remain strong during 2013. 67% of the collection was consumed domestically by end users in the US and Canada. This is significantly higher when compared with the domestic consumption rate of 57% during 2012.