APR: ‘There is no sustainability without recycling’
From Resource Recycliing, Colin Staub
The head of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) recently voiced concerns that plastics recovery progress could get dampened by stakeholders’ transition to more holistic approaches to materials management.
During a recent webinar, Steve Alexander of APR and an official from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discussed the evolution of sustainable materials management and what it means for the plastics recycling industry.
Under a sustainable materials management approach, managing a product at end of life becomes just one component of reducing that product’s environmental impact. It’s not necessarily about lessening the importance of recycling, but introducing new factors into the discussion. It’s a concept being embraced by the U.S. EPA as well as states, waste companies and others.
But APR wants to make sure the work being done by the plastics recycling sector is not forgotten as the dialogue develops.
“Recycling is at the base of any sustainability movement,” said Steve Alexander, executive director of APR. “Frankly, there is no sustainability without recycling.”