The APR reports that some of its members recently received marketing materials from ENSO promoting its degradable additive. If you've received such a communication, please drop Kate a brief email. NAPCOR maintains its opposition to the use of degradable additives in PET packaging, and we continue to watch this issue closely and respond where warranted. Our updated web page on the topic includes a one-page statement linked from the top of the page. Please feel free to download the statement to use internally, to email as a response tool, or to excerpt as needed.    

 

 

NAPCOR staff continues to monitor two ASTM subcommittees of potential interest to NAPCOR members, D20.95 (resin ID code) and D20.96 (degradable plastics). The ENSO item above mentions some near-term efforts in this area; our work with the D20.96 subcommittee furthers the broader aim of ensuring good science around landfill degradability standards and related issues.

NAPCOR staff attempts to streamline the ASTM process for our joint NAPCOR/ASTM members as much as possible. Please consider joining ASTM and participating on these important subcommittees. Joining ASTM is a simple online process and the cost is minimal. If you do join, or have colleagues who are already participating, let Kate know and she'll include you or your colleagues in NAPCOR/ASTM email distributions.
 

On August 23 the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers published an executive summary of its Design for Recyclability Guidelines. The summary was developed as a quick reference tool for non-technical audiences, marketing and brand managers, consumer products companies and packaging designers.

The full guidelines, which have evolved over the past 14 years, describe how a package design might impact conventional mechanical plastics recycling systems, and how it might be optimized to make plastic packages more compatible with the existing recycling infrastructure.

In a webinar on Thursday, September 19, APR will discuss the use of the summary. You can reserve a spot at attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/443533447537141504.

 

 

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has released for public comment the second draft of Systems Analysis of the Impact of Act 148 on Solid Waste Management in Vermont. The analysis includes a cost-and-performance comparison of several PET bottle recycling scenarios, including statewide single-stream recycling alone, statewide single-stream added to the existing bottle bill, and statewide single-stream with an expanded bottle bill. We were disappointed to see that little of NAPCOR's extensive commentary on the preliminary draft is reflected in this one, and we are one of the signatories to a letter asking ANR not to issue what we see as a seriously flawed report.     

Governor Martin O'Malley has released a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan for the state of Maryland. One of the half dozen near-term initiatives in the plan (see page 177) is the enactment of a beverage container recycling law. This inclusion in the plan increases the likelihood of action on a bottle bill during the 2014 legislative session.

 

In Minnesota, the Pollution Control Agency is launching a legislature-mandated study that will make recommendations for a statewide recycling refund program that can push the recycling rate for beverage containers to 80 percent. The agency has set up a website with the legislative language, information on public meetings--the first is on September 30--and a link to sign up for email updates.

Indiana's Environmental Quality Service Council addressed recycling issues at its first meeting of the year on August 28. The council, made up of legislators and other stakeholders, meets between legislative sessions to explore issues and consider legislative options. In their testimony to the council, several packaging manufacturers referred to landfilled recyclables as "buried treasure." Agendas and minutes are posted on the council's web page. 

 

  

Best regards,

 

NAPCOR Communications Director

keagles[at]napcor[dot]com