Access to Canadian plastics recycling at its highest level in 10 years: CPIA report

The number of recycling programs in Canada that now accept and recycle a wide range of plastic packaging has grown to the largest ever in 10 years, a new report released by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) says, as recycling programs “have become a regular part of daily life for the majority of Canadians”.

While access to recycling of plastic beverage containers continues to hold steady at 98 per cent or more, the report found that the biggest gains have been realized for non-bottle rigid containers made from a variety of resin types. “The national rate for access to recycling of plastic non-bottle containers is at least 93 per cent for the most common resin types of PET and HDPE (also known by resin identification codes #1 and #2 respectively),” the report said. “And for non-bottle containers made from other resin types, such as PVC, LDPE and PP (#3, #4 and #5 respectively), recycling access rates are greater than 80 per cent.”

For non-container plastic packaging, meanwhile, there have been steady gains in the national and provincial access rates with more and more municipal recycling programs beginning to include these items in their systems. “Of note, the latest access for municipal recycling of retail shopping bags is 67 per cent and horticultural rigid plastics are 74 per cent,” the study said.

“This year’s study, which marks a decade of data, provides validation of our support and outreach efforts to help industry, government and fellow Canadians to have more opportunities to recycle plastic packaging” said Krista Friesen, the CPIA’s vice president of sustainability.

The full report, entitled “2014 Recycling Access Report for Plastic Containers and Packaging” and prepared for the CPIA by CM Consulting, is available at this link.