RECYCLING DUST-UP — A leading plastics industry group has launched a counteroffensive against environmentalists’ opposition to their calls to increase recycling, accusing green groups of fighting efforts to reduce pollution. The “Recycling is Real” campaign is an attempt to flip the script on green groups’ contention that recycling doesn’t work and that initiatives styled as efforts to reuse waste plastic are really just cover for plans to continue mass production of material that is clogging the world's landfills and waterways. Environmental advocacy groups like Beyond Plastics have become “anti-recycling” and are sowing distrust among consumers, according to Plastics Industry Association President and CEO Matt Seaholm. His group's counterprogramming is highlighted by videos focused on successful recycling programs at facilities around the country. “We’ve been advocating for things like recycled content requirements and extended producer responsibility, schemes that would increase and invest in recycling infrastructure,” Seaholm said. “And we were finding that we were having these conversations with lawmakers, but they were being told by these activist groups, ‘Don't bother recycling. It'll never happen. Just give up.’ And it was just really actually quite frustrating because we're trying to increase recycling rates. And we need policymakers to work with us on that.” Beyond Plastics President Judith Enck, who served as an EPA regional administrator during the Obama administration, says the problem is that unlike materials such as paper, glass and aluminum, plastics have never been recycled at a rate higher than 10 percent in the U.S. “They need to change their marketing to say that recycling is real except for plastics,” said Enck, whose organization wants to block new plastic manufacturing and plastic-burning facilities. “When I talk about the failure of plastic recycling, I always urge people to keep recycling paper, cardboard, metal, glass, compost yard waste and food waste,” she said. “But we need to be honest with the public that the plastic recycling rate is abysmal. And the plastics industry has to stop lying about this.” Environmental groups have also urged federal regulators to ramp up their scrutiny of the use of the iconic “chasing arrow” recycling symbol as an environmental marketing tool for products. Recycling has become a complicated policy point for environmental groups that are criticizing the plastics industry for not doing enough to reduce production and urging stricter regulation of what’s considered recyclable, while also trying not to destroy public faith in the potential for the recycling system to do good. Add in the fact that there are more than 9,000 local recycling programs nationwide, and it’s no wonder consumers are confused. “There is a nuance that often gets lost,” said Kate Bailey, chief policy officer at the Association of Plastic Recyclers. “While plastics recycling alone will not solve the problem, there is a role for recycling, and it can and should be scaled. A comprehensive set of actions will be needed to reduce plastic pollution. So, it's not as simple as an either/or, as some of the messaging is. It's really a both/and.” Enck said that plastics recycling has worked in states that have bottle bill legislation on the books — but that the industry isn’t working to support those efforts. That reminded us of an eye-opening moment late in 2022, when Enck and Seaholm agreed in theory at a congressional hearing on the benefits for a national bottle bill that hasn’t yet materialized. Seaholm said in an interview that bottle bill conversations have been ongoing but that he’s let other groups lead the charge. “It just hasn’t risen to a priority,” he said.
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