In celebration of the 20th anniversary of America Recycles Day, national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI,) hosted the 2017 “State of Recycling” Forum in Washington D.C., presented in partnership with Keurig Green Mountain. The topic for this year’s “State of Recycling” Forum is: Plastics: Improving Quality. Driving Demand.
Now in its third year, the “State of Recycling” Forum is hosted annually by Keep America Beautiful and ISRI to provide an overview of the current opportunities and challenges facing recycling in the United States, as well as addressing critical topics that impact and can be influenced by industry stakeholders, government, and individuals. The Forum is held in conjunction with America Recycles Day – a national initiative of Keep America Beautiful dedicated to raising awareness and advancing recycling in the U.S.
“Much is being done to capture more recyclable plastics,” said Brenda Pulley, senior vice president, recycling, Keep America Beautiful. “In celebrating the 20th anniversary of America Recycles Day, it’s a moment in time for us to look closely at the current state of the recycling infrastructure, as well as innovations being made to process and develop new markets for recycled materials, especially plastics. Keep America Beautiful is pleased to host this important Forum examining the state of the industry with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, in partnership with Keurig Green Mountain.”
“We have made great strides in expanding the recycling stream through innovation, education, and determination since the first America Recycles Day 20 years ago,” said Robin Wiener, president of ISRI. “Today, we face new challenges and opportunities, particularly when it comes to plastics recycling. From developing new markets to technology to process new material, there is much being done. We are proud to partner with Keep America Beautiful and other organizations to advance recycling and encourage the public to take an active role.”
The Forum addressed:
- The Current State of Plastics Recycling: What’s working, what’s not, and advances being made to process and develop new markets for recyclables;
- Innovation within Plastics Recycling: From product design to sorting technology and addressing both the post-industrial and post-consumer arena for recycling success;
- Engaging Consumers in Recycling and Buying Recycled Content: Guidelines for advertising recyclable and recycled content to consumers; labeling and other tools to educate and activate consumers to recycle right; and insights into consumers’ recycling attitudes and behaviors; and
- The Community Recycling Perspective: The drivers and detractors to plastics recycling, the cost/benefits for communities, ways to engage consumers to support creating higher quality supply and demand for recycled content products.
For more information, visit www.kab.org or www.isri.org.