HOUSTON--US plastics industry representatives on Tuesday launched a new initiative to encourage recycling by printing a standardised logo and message to consumers on each polyethylene (PE) bag.
The move comes amid a wave of public opinion in the US and elsewhere against the use of disposable plastic bags.
One major grocery retailer, Whole Foods, has already announced it will stop distributing disposable bags by Earth Day, celebrated today.
Whole Foods, which is the world s leading retailer of organic and natural foods with more than 270 stores in the US and England, claims the move is intended not to settle the paper vs. plastic debate, but rather to encourage recycling.
We say reuse! instead. But when you don t reuse, we provide 100% recycled (and recyclable) paper bags, the company said on its website.
To address negative consumer perceptions about plastic bags, a group of top plastic bag producers, recyclers and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) have formed a group called the Progressive Bag Affiliates (PBA).
The goal of the PBA is to gather the leaders of the plastic bag industry together with major recyclers to effect meaningful change in plastic bag recycling, ACC plastics division managing director Steve Russell said. This unified awareness campaign, with a clear message printed on millions of bags across the nation, will be one of the most widely distributed environmental messages ever created.
API Corporation, Hilex Poly, Inteplast and Superbag Corporation, bag manufacturers which together represent over 90% of the domestic plastic bag production, will all incorporate the new logo and message as a standard feature on their bags.
Consumers can expect to see the logo on bags throughout the country in the many areas where plastic bag recycling programmes are available.
The PBA also announced a comprehensive at-store recycling toolkit designed to make it easy for stores to recycle plastic bags. The toolkit offers bins and signage for store entrances and exits, checkout signage and pins to raise awareness, and municipal bins to be used at curbside.
An estimated 812m lbs (368,000 tonnes) of post-consumer film (including plastic bags) was recovered in 2006, representing a 24% increase from 652.5m lbs (296,000 tonnes) recovered in 2005, according to the PBA.
The move comes amid a wave of public opinion in the US and elsewhere against the use of disposable plastic bags.
One major grocery retailer, Whole Foods, has already announced it will stop distributing disposable bags by Earth Day, celebrated today.
Whole Foods, which is the world s leading retailer of organic and natural foods with more than 270 stores in the US and England, claims the move is intended not to settle the paper vs. plastic debate, but rather to encourage recycling.
We say reuse! instead. But when you don t reuse, we provide 100% recycled (and recyclable) paper bags, the company said on its website.
To address negative consumer perceptions about plastic bags, a group of top plastic bag producers, recyclers and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) have formed a group called the Progressive Bag Affiliates (PBA).
The goal of the PBA is to gather the leaders of the plastic bag industry together with major recyclers to effect meaningful change in plastic bag recycling, ACC plastics division managing director Steve Russell said. This unified awareness campaign, with a clear message printed on millions of bags across the nation, will be one of the most widely distributed environmental messages ever created.
API Corporation, Hilex Poly, Inteplast and Superbag Corporation, bag manufacturers which together represent over 90% of the domestic plastic bag production, will all incorporate the new logo and message as a standard feature on their bags.
Consumers can expect to see the logo on bags throughout the country in the many areas where plastic bag recycling programmes are available.
The PBA also announced a comprehensive at-store recycling toolkit designed to make it easy for stores to recycle plastic bags. The toolkit offers bins and signage for store entrances and exits, checkout signage and pins to raise awareness, and municipal bins to be used at curbside.
An estimated 812m lbs (368,000 tonnes) of post-consumer film (including plastic bags) was recovered in 2006, representing a 24% increase from 652.5m lbs (296,000 tonnes) recovered in 2005, according to the PBA.
