Sustainable packaging: Plastic bag makers kick off bag-recycling events for Earth Month
-- Packaging Digest, 4/13/2010 12:38:30 PM
To help promote the growing national trend of plastic bag recycling, the Progressive Bag Affiliates (PBA) of the American Chemistry Council announces a trio of new recycling partnerships to launch during Earth Month. Hundreds of new recycling bins for plastic bags and product wraps will roll out around the country over the next few weeks as municipal leaders, local businesses and community partners work to spread the message about the importance of recycling plastic bags.On April 14th Philadelphia's Temple University, and the PBA will partner with Keep Philadelphia Beautiful and the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association to launch the citywide plastic bag recycling education campaign "Bring It Back Philly." This event will be broadcast live on the PBA's Ustream Channel at 11:00 AM. The channel also will host a live chat during the event. You can be a part of the conversation by logging in during the livestream or follow event updates on twitter with the hashtag #bbphilly.
On April 20th in King County, Washington, PBA will join city and school officials in the "Bag Your Bags, Bring 'em Back" collection challenge at Kennydale Elementary School. At this event children will weigh bags they've been collecting, and the winning group will receive a "green" pizza party. Through this experience, students and area consumers will learn about the importance of recycling their plastic bags and product wraps - and how it's becoming easier and more convenient to do so at grocery stores throughout the community.
Also that week in Florida the PBA will celebrate Earth Day by kicking off the plastic bag recycling campaign, "A Bag's Life," a community-based public education campaign designed to increase awareness of the growing number of convenient opportunities to recycle plastic bags and wraps in the state.
According to the EPA's data, the recycling rate for plastic bags and product wraps has doubled since 2005. In 2008 an estimated 832,394,000 pounds of post-consumer plastic film (including plastic bags and product wraps) were recovered to the latest National Post-Consumer Recycled Plastic Bags and Film Report. The boost in recycling is being spurred, in part, by greater consumer access to collection programs, primarily at large grocery and retail stores, as well as by new markets for these recycled materials.
"More Americans are recycling plastic bags and wraps than ever before, driven by a growing recognition that plastic is a valuable resource," said Shari Jackson, director of the Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council. "We're pleased to be a part of these three great events that will help further educate consumers about recycling plastic bags and product wraps.
"It's not just bags, we find that many consumers are surprised to learn that they can return dry-cleaning bags, newspaper bags and plastic wraps from bread, paper towels, cases of soda and more. These materials are recycled into many useful products, including durable backyard decking, fencing, railings, shopping carts and, of course, new bags. What could be more timely than to spread this message during Earth Month," Jackson said.
Last year, the Progressive Bag Affiliates announced a landmark recycling goal of 40 percent recycled content in all plastic shopping bags made by these companies by 2015. When fully implemented, the Full Circle Recycling Initiative will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 463 million pounds, conserve enough energy (mainly natural gas) to heat 200,000 homes, and reduce waste by 300 million pounds every year. More information is available at www.americanchemistry.com/fullcircle.
SOURCE: Progressive Bag Affiliates
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