CPIA makes new commitment to Operation Clean Sweep

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) has made a new commitment to Operation Clean Sweep, an international program designed to prevent resin pellet, flake, and powder loss and the potential introduction of pellets to the environment including oceans and waterways.

CPIA originally signed onto Operation Clean Sweep in 2012, and is the program’s Canadian licensee.

The CPIA’s newest Clean Sweep initiative involves getting all CPIA member companies to be signatories participating in the program by 2022.

And together with the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, CPIA has set the goal of 100 per cent of plastics packaging being reused, recycled, or recovered by 2040, and an interim goal of 100 per cent of plastics packaging being recyclable or recoverable by 2030.

“Operation Clean Sweep is focused on the steps before plastic becomes a hygienic package, a safety helmet or a critical medical device,” the Toronto-based CPIA said in a statement. “The program helps each segment of the plastics industry including resin producers, transporters, bulk terminal operators and plastics processors implement containment practices that achieve zero pellet, flake and powder loss.”

Originally founded in the U.S., Operation Clean Sweep was introduced in Canada in 2012 when the North American Plastics Alliance was formed, consisting of CPIA and two U.S.-based industry associations: the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. and the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council.