The Tipping Point for Curbside Recycling of Flexible Packaging

Lisa McTigue Pierce | Aug 10, 2023

Think about the reasons why flexible packaging isn’t collected today via curbside bins in the United States.

• Bags, pouches, and films are often multilayered/multi-material and can’t be separated for mechanical recycling.• Material Recovery Facilities (aka MRFs) can’t automatically handle flexible packaging. The material jams their machinery and causes a lot of problems.• The business case isn’t there yet because there isn’t a robust end market for the material once it’s been recycled.

But let me make a case for why we should push — and push hard — for flexible packaging to be collected at curbside.

One reason to push for this now is that there’s more flexible packaging in general. Scan store shelves or look in your own garbage can and you’re sure to see flexible packaging in a higher percentage than before for the products you buy. That’s because, over the last decade, brand owners have switched from rigid packs to flexible at a remarkable rate. The reasons are varied:

• It could be to save packaging material weight for environmental reasons because flexible packaging is lighter-weight than a rigid container;• It could be for economic reasons since a roll of film is often less expensive compared to the number of equivalent bottles;• It could be to save raw material inventory space;• It could be a better package format for the product or use-case (for example, more products are being shipped via small-parcel for ecommerce, and hermetic seals of flexible packs provide better leak-proof benefits vs rigid when package orientation can’t be controlled);• It could be other reasons.

Plus recycling anything diverts that waste from landfills. Whether you believe in the climate crisis or not, surely you can see how practicing circularity is better for people, planet, profits, right?

So, what has changed to bring us to this tipping point of curbside recycling for flexible packaging? A lot. Here are just a few highlights:

Resource Recycling Systems enlisted the help of TotalRecycle’s materials recovery facility for its successful Materials Recovery for the Future Project.

I don’t deny there are still challenges. Multilayer film structures, for one. Closure devices made from a different material, for another. Perhaps advanced recycling will be the ultimate solution; many are counting on that.

Technology aside, I think consumer education is key; but so is a concise and consistent message. And we don’t have either yet.

But so much activity is happening with flexible packaging these days that it’s hard to keep up with it. Packaging Digest helps you by consolidating critical news in our free Breaking News in Flexible Packaging stream.

A critical last question to ask, though, before we can close the loop on the business case of curbside collection of flexible packaging: Is there an adequate end market for the collected and recycled material?

You tell me. That’s in your hands. Let’s get there.

Lisa McTigue Pierce is executive editor of Packaging Digest. She’s been a packaging media journalist since 1982 and tracks emerging trends, new technologies, and best practices across a spectrum of markets for the publication’s global community. Reach her at [email protected] or 630-481-1422.

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