A California initiative and a nationwide study examine the accessibility of film recycling programs, and a Canadian city begins collection. | Dmitry Markov152/Shutterstock
Most Americans have access to a store drop-off site for film plastics, according to a new study by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition.
The findings come as The Recycling Partnership launches an initiative to expand film plastic recycling in California and the city of West Vancouver, British Columbia, prepares to start curbside flexible plastic collection.
The study released last week by SPC found about 70% of U.S. residents live within a 3-mile drive of a retail store drop-off for film plastics. The study, which was conducted by consulting firm Resource Recycling Systems, also found over 90% of residents live within 10 miles of a drop-off and over 95% live within 20 miles.
SPC previously released a study examining store drop-off access within the state of California with similar results.
The findings of the study will help SPC promote store drop-off programs, wrote Paula Leardini, manager of Circular Recycling at SPC and author of the study article.
“While these results are encouraging, it’s important to note that access is just one piece of the puzzle,” Leardini wrote. “There is significant work ahead to substantiate the system as a whole, but this research establishes a clearer picture of where access exists today.”
Future SPC projects include research into how to inform consumers about programs near them, as well as working with How2Recycle to improve recycling labels to work better with programs.
SPC’s study comes after some turbulence in the U.S. drop-off film recycling landscape. In 2023, there were several major media investigations into where bags dropped off in retail collection sites were ultimately going. ABC News and Bloomberg both dropped off plastic with GPS trackers inside and found that at least some of their materials ended up in a landfill.
Then, in late 2023, a longtime drop-off guide was taken offline after its administrator, Stina Inc., lost industry funding to maintain the resource. That guide was frequently cited by How2Recycle and other industry initiatives, and its absence left a gap in consumer-facing information about film recycling availability. Since then, several groups have launched guides aiming to bring similar information to the public, including major recycled film end user Trex and, more recently, the Plastics Industry Association.
California flexible packaging initiative
The Recycling Partnership’s Film and Flexibles Recycling Coalition started the CalFFlex Initiative, focusing on curbside film and flexible plastic in California, earlier this year. The coalition’s goals include making film plastic products more profitable, improving film plastic processing systems and making curbside collection of film recycling more common.
According to the coalition website, CalFFlex hopes to establish a replicable blueprint for collecting film and flexible plastics and developing end markets by April 2026.
The initiative was created in response to the state’s EPR law, SB 54, which requires producers to demonstrate they’re moving toward compliance in that time frame or face possible penalties and bans. CalFFlex plans to work alongside California’s Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery, and Circular Action Alliance, the EPR program’s producer responsibility organization.
“We’re improving collection, enhancing processing and driving demand for recycled materials,” the coalition wrote on its website. “Together, we can address these challenges, support California’s progress, and create a more sustainable future.”
Also in California, manufacturer Oroville Flexible Packaging announced the launch of Oroflex, a system for client businesses to return plastic bags and packaging to be recycled into new products.
“Oroflex is more than a plastics manufacturing and recycling company, we are partners in environmental stewardship,” Clemens Stockreiter, founder of Oroville parent company Re:Circle, wrote in a press release this week.
Curbside collection in Canada
The district municipality of West Vancouver in British Columbia plans to start collecting film plastics curbside this summer, according to a district news announcement last month.
Recycle BC, West Vancouver’s recycling provider, will collect flexible plastics, like plastic bags and packaging, in separate containers once a month. British Columbia was an early adopter of many kinds of EPR, packaging included, and provinces across Canada have been expanding and improving EPR programs in recent years.
According to the announcement, this expansion of accepted recycling is part of a larger effort to make recycling more convenient for West Vancouver residents. Previously, residents had to bring all film and flexible plastics to a drop-off site to have them recycled.
Collection boxes will be distributed to residents this month, and collection will begin in June.
— Andrew Hawthorne is an editorial intern at Resource Recycling and a journalism student at Rutgers University. He can be contacted at [email protected].