A new campaign to show the positive impacts of recycling!

Last month, the Plastics Industry Association launched the new “Recycling is Real” campaign defending and promoting plastic recycling across the country [1]. Recently, there have been many campaigns and groups that have been attacking plastics recycling, ignoring that plastics and plastics recycling play a key role in a circular economy [2]. That’s why one of the main goals of this campaign is to show that plastic recycling is real and is happening and can show the public and lawmakers how effective it is at reducing plastic waste [1]. The campaign shines light on different efforts around to country to show those who are helping make recycling real.
Plastic recycling has become a hot topic in recent years and has been receiving a lot of backlash regarding its effectiveness [2]. Low recycling rates in the past have not been helping, and often overshadow the effectiveness of recycling. Part of the reason rates are so low is due to the lack of education and awareness when it comes to plastic recycling as we have discussed previously (see “Promoting Recycling to the Community“). Often times, these efforts that degrade recycling are much louder than those that promote it, completely disregarding all of the positives about plastic recycling [3]. At the end of the day, plastic plays a key role in a circular economy, and plastic recycling helps ensure that plastic can play a role in it.
In the past few years, including 2023, many more states have passed legislation regarding plastics recycling, such as many states passing advanced recycling bills to promote recycling (see article “Advancements in Advanced Recycling“). On the other hand, there are many groups discouraging legislation like advanced recycling because they believe plastic recycling isn’t effective [4]. One of the goals of the Recycling is Real campaign is to provide resources for elected officials to help them understand how important plastic is in a circular economy to help them make decisions when it comes to plastic recycling [1]. By showing current efforts along with creating educational resources, the campaign provides sufficient information as to why plastics are essential in a circular economy and that plastic recycling does work.

At Placon, we are proud to be a part of this amazing initiative to help promote plastic recycling. We are lucky enough to have our recycling facility located at our headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, which processes old PET to be made into our EcoStar material. In our video featured on the website, we show how our facilities work and those who contribute to the recycling process. We are committed to ensuring plastic is a part of a circular economy and want it out of the environment, and we believe recycling plays a key role in both of those.

For more information on the campaign, go to Home – Recycling is Real

[1] Home – Recycling is Real

[2] Plastic industry’s $1M ‘Recycling is Real’ campaign designed to reclaim the narrative | Waste Dive

[3] Plastics Industry Wants World to Know Recycling Is Real (plasticstoday.com)

[4] Plastics Trade Group Launches ‘Recycling is Real’ Advocacy Campaign | Plastics Engineering

ABOUT PLACON
For 55 years, Placon has been a leading designer and manufacturer of custom and stock plastic packaging for the food, medical, and retail markets. Placon has manufacturing operations in Madison, WI; Elkhart, IN; Plymouth, MN; and West Springfield, MA, and currently ranked in Plastics News 2020 Thermoformers Ranking Top 20. Placon delivers packaging breakthroughs that inspire better engagement between people and products with industry leading innovation and award-winning packaging designs. For more information, visit www.placon.com.