US: Slight decrease in amount plastic bottles recycled in 2015

Plastic bottle recycling held nearly steady in 2015, with a slight decrease of 0.5 percent from 2014, according to figures released recently by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC). The overall recycling rate was 31.1%, down slightly from 31.7% the previous year. Since 2010 plastic bottle recycling has grown by nearly 400 million pounds, increasing on average by nearly 80 million pounds per year, or 2.9% annually.
Several factors contributed to the recent plateau, including a drop in material collected available for recycling, reduced exports and increased contamination of recyclables (News Release APR, 2 November 2016).
Click here for the news release.
Click here for the report (519 kB).
Click here for more information about the new NVC Project PUMA: the end of packaging as an environmental issue (kick-off on 29 March 2017).
With NVC MERGE (Members-only Environmental Regulations Guide) you can keep up-to-date with the environmental requirements for your packaging. MERGE is exclusively for NVC members and there are no costs involved.

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