{"id":1104,"date":"2023-06-20T20:01:42","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T00:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/2023\/06\/20\/are-national-standards-around-recyclability-claims-on-the-way\/"},"modified":"2024-11-16T14:04:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T19:04:46","slug":"are-national-standards-around-recyclability-claims-on-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/are-national-standards-around-recyclability-claims-on-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Are National Standards Around Recyclability Claims on The Way?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research shows how much, how often, and how well consumers recycle depends on their trust in the recycling system. Most of them \u2013 78 percent \u2013turn to labels to try and determine if a material will actually be recycled. Yet nearly two-thirds of them say they are confused by the label, found a survey of 1,300-plus participants conducted by The Recycling Partnership.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s an optimistic note in what the nonprofit discovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cConsistently in our studies we see the vast majority [of consumers] think recycling is a positive action. Eight or nine out of 10 want to recycle because of positive impacts they believe recycling offers,\u201d says Elizabeth Schussler, senior director of social change, behavior and impact, The Recycling Partnership.<\/p>\n

And a good many of them have faith in the system\u201450 percent \u00a0say they believe what they put in the blue bin is made into new products.<\/p>\n

Yet if they don\u2019t have clear guidance, they have a sense that there\u2019s a \u2018maybe\u2019 in there.\u00a0Maybe<\/em>\u00a0they can believe what\u2019s\u00a0on the package.<\/p>\n

They often make a leap of faith. But they can lose their faith as readily as they embraced it; 82\u00a0percent feel misled if recycling is implied in a claim, but the item can\u2019t be recycled.<\/p>\n

They expect clear, reliable information in a consistent format.\u00a0With that, The Partnership is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to update its Green Guides to set national standards\u00a0for accuracy, clarity, and accountability for recycling claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Standardizing across the boards is no easy undertaking. Programs vary across the U.S. and sometimes even within a community.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine you are driving across a state and when you cross a county or city line the road signs giving instructions change. That\u2019s kind of what\u2019s happening within recycling,\u201d says Sarah Dearman, chief innovation officer, The Recycling Partnership.<\/p>\n

There are 9,000 programs using what may be similar but different language. And the terms can be confusing. Add to the complexity, the sea of plastic types. What to do with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles is straightforward.\u00a0 But with high-density\u00a0polyethylene\u00a0(HDPE) consumers are confused, and even more so with polypropylene (PP) due to that these resins encompass so many more applications.<\/p>\n

Further, what\u2019s accepted changes as end markets fluctuate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith consumers looking for helpful information on the package [and so many details to consider], we have to make sure that information is as accurate and clear as possible,\u201d Dearman says.<\/p>\n

For now, FTC\u2019s Green Guides only provide explicit instructions around access to programs. To make unqualified claims on packaging, at least 60 percent of the community must be able to recycle it. But The Partnership is pushing for the guidance to go much further and to consider multiple stages of recyclability. And to include guidance not just for consumers, but for the whole supply chain \u2013whoever touches what could make it into consumers\u2019 bins.<\/p>\n

The Partnership has proposed a federal standard for determining recyclability based on its \u201cPathway to Circularity Framework<\/a>,\u201d \u00a0developed\u00a0by multiple industry stakeholders.\u00a0Under this approach, to claim that a package is recyclable, it must be:\u00a0<\/p>\n