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Plastics processors facing obstacles on path to sustainability
Thursday, 15 October 2009 03:46
EAST LANSING, MICH. (Oct. 13, 4:10 p.m. ET) — The plastics industry’s attempts to cash in on a green revolution are hitting some hurdles.
The post-consumer recycling stream still is being hurt by a poor infrastructure for collecting and reusing plastics beyond bottles, cutting the ability for businesses to get enough of a supply to make a real business case for recycling, said Elizabeth Bedard, director of the Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers’ rigid plastics recycling program.
And at the same time, the Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on companies that make environmental claims about their products — potentially affecting even those who do not sell directly to the public.
FTC’s rules extend to business-to-business marketing, said Jean-Cyril Walker, a partner with Washington law firm Keller and Heckman LLP, during the Society of Plastics Engineers 2009 Annual Blow Molding Conference, held Oct. 6-7 in East Lansing.
A company that is marketing individual parts or resins on its Web site for being “environmentally friendly” needs to have data to back that up, he said, and at the same time molders cannot merely rely on their suppliers’ claims, but must prove their part meets FTC rules.
The federal agency’s rules also differ from a simple scientific lab report, Walker said. The agency requires that any labeling must be understood by the general consumer. So a claim that a plastic bag, for instance, is biodegradable because it breaks down in lab testing would raise questions because the general consumer would throw that “degradable” bag into a landfill, in which nothing degrades quickly.
At the same time, a claim that a product is “recyclable” must show that it can be easily recycled by the consumer in curbside programs — not merely that it’s technically possible to recycle it, he said.
In June, FTC charged retailer Kmart Corp., consumer products firm Tender Corp. and Dyna-E International with making “deceptive and unsubstantiated biodegradability claims.” Kmart and Tender both agreed to stop making the claims. Dyna-E, which makes compressed dry towels, is continuing litigation.
Walker has worked with companies to help them find language that will meet FTC demands, so they do not get in trouble later.
“People get excited about using environmental language, but reining in your marketing folks is a lot easier than reining in lawyers,” he said.
Recycling efforts, meanwhile, continue to run into problems trying to expand household collection of recycled plastics. Most communities that offer curbside recycling stick to PET and high density polyethylene — which consumers recognize with the recycling numbers of 1 and 2, Bedard said. Meanwhile, polypropylene yogurt cups and margarine tubs remain outside the recycling mainstream, although they are widely used plastics in households.
“Consumers want to recycle more, but they run into a lot of negativity toward plastics because they get confused about what they can recycle,” she said. “What is we need to figure out is how to coordinate more recycling beyond the 1s and 2s.”
APR created its rigid plastics recycling task force to focus efforts by recyclers, molders and major brand owners to find a way to improve household recycling efforts to rigid plastics, she said.
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