By: Thierry Fabozzi – President and CEO of PTI
On the ever-present topic of sustainability, there’s been a gorilla in the proverbial room that up until recently wasn’t even acknowledged.
Major leading brands, retailers and packaging suppliers have gone on record saying that they are committed to using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
We know that sustainability is a very complex issue and that different parts of the world are more advanced with their recycling efforts than others. We also know that specific plastic materials and related attributes/value play a large role in this equation.
For example, in the United States, only 28% of post-consumer PET bottles are recycled. In European/Scandinavian countries, the percentage is much higher—and Norway is the champ at 97%!In these “best practice” countries, collection bins are clearly marked “PET,” so consumers easily know where to dispose of bottles. Some countries even have a tax on garbage bags, so consumers are incentivized to use fewer of them, so that the overall amount of trash is minimized.
So, back to our gorilla. Read the full article on Plastics Today.