Sustainability
Creating a sustainable future, through increasing recyclability and reimagining the recycling system.
Sustainability
Enhancing Packaging Sustainability
The CPG industry plays a crucial role in creating a more sustainable future through packaging innovation and increasing recyclability.
All of the 25-largest CPG companies have made commitments to increasing recyclable content, minimizing packaging or reusing material. Eighty percent of those companies are working toward fully recyclable packaging for all of their products by 2030 at the latest.
Packaging with the Planet in Mind
Fixing America's Recycling System
Lasting Change
Packaging with the Planet in Mind
Few industries adapt as quickly to consumer wants and needs as CPG. Consumer preference coupled with the industry’s desire to do the right thing has led to innovation in the way that CPG companies offer sustainable products.
Fixing America’s Recycling System
Consumers are victims of a broken system that has led to confusion, contamination and the breakdown of America’s recycling infrastructure.
Lasting Change
A sustainable future demands that every stakeholder be part of a holistic and honest assessment of our recycling system if we want to create meaningful and lasting change.
Achieving America’s Recycling Future
Achieving America’s Recycling Future is the first policy platform released by the Consumer Brands Association, representing the views of the CPG industry, and focuses on finding scalable solutions to address the underlying issues in the recycling and recovery system.
Blueprint for America’s Recycling System
The Consumer Brands Association’s Recycling Leadership Council (RLC) unites a diverse group of stakeholders from consumer-facing industries and the packaging and recycling ecosystem to build a public policy framework to fundamentally reimagine the recycling system.
In February 2021, the RLC released the Blueprint for America’s Recycling System, its vision for ambitious federal policy action which recommends scalable solutions for a modern and standardized recycling system across the country.
Set up for Failure
How the Fragmented Approach to Recycling Fails Consumers and the Environment
Achieving uniformity in recycling definitions is the first and most critical step in the process of reimagining the American system — the true gateway to meaningful change.
See What’s New
From the News
In the News: On Earth Day, Consumer Brands VP of Packaging Sustainability Urges House Passage of Critical Recycling Bills
Blog
Innovation Spotlight: How Kraft Heinz is Making Major Strides Toward its Sustainability Goals
Blog
Global Recycling Day: What Federal Policy Can Do Now to Help Long-Term Recycling Rates
Fixing America’s Recycling System
There is deep confusion about how and what to recycle, evidence of a broken system where change is imperative.
92%
of Americans
feel that they know their local recycling rules, but fewer than six-in-ten report researching them.
40%
of Americans
admit tossing “maybes” into the recycling bin, increasing contamination and the chance that materials heads to the landfill instead.
4%
of Americans
say that they are not confused by recycling rules.
The Potential of National Standards
Consumer Brands Association research reveals that Americans want the government to lead on a solution to the plastic and packaging waste crisis.
Ninety-three percent of Americans feel that national standards will alleviate the confusion caused by the current morass of recycling rules, stemming from nearly 10,000 individual systems.
The majority of Americans believe that the federal government should make solving the recycling crisis the next “moon shot.” Without substantial change driven by every stakeholder — CPG companies, NGOs, government officials and even consumers — recycling in America will continue to slowly erode.
Americans Want a Recycling ‘Moon Shot’
of Americans
believe that the federal government should tackle plastic and packaging waste as its next “moon shot.”
of Americans
believe that they would be helped by labeling packaging with information on how to properly recycle containers.
Playing a Leading Role in Uniting Stakeholders
No one industry can solve the packaging waste crisis alone. It will take collaboration across multiple sectors to create meaningful change.
Research & Resources
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