Unit-based pricing, disposal bans and recycling mandates appear to have greatest impact on packaging waste management, specifically, recovery rates and financing for collection and recovery, according to new Ameripen white paper
Elyse Blye
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky
,
August 28, 2013
(press release)
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Speaking at the Resource Recovery Conference this morning, AMERIPEN (American Institute for Packaging and the Environment) Executive Director Donna Dempsey discussed the results of the organization’s just-published packaging recovery white paper. Entitled AMERIPEN Analysis of Strategies and Financial Platforms to Increase the Recovery of Used Packaging, the study evaluated global systems that supported improved packaging recovery and system financing.
As Dempsey stated, AMERIPEN’s findings emphasized that waste management is a system, and strategies to address waste challenges need to consider the complex interplay of programs amongst themselves as well as larger cultural and geographic elements. Within this framework, AMERIPEN identified three strategies which, when leveraged synergistically, appeared to have the greatest impact on increasing recovery rates and sustaining financing for collection and recovery. These include: unit-based pricing, also known as pay as you throw (PAYT), disposal bans, and recycling mandates.
“These strategies can collectively help shift consumer practices, and potentially attitudes, away from waste disposal and towards recycling and other recovery strategies. They are effective tools with proven results that, when implemented together, can better utilize existing infrastructures,” Dempsey said.
AMERIPEN President Gail Tavill said, “This is the first time that recovery programs in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia have been examined in detail and compared in terms of both their environmental and economic effectiveness. We hope to use these findings and insights to help communities develop stronger and more efficient recovery programs for used packaging.”
The 78-page white paper is available for download from the AMERIPEN website.
About AMERIPEN
AMERIPEN advocates for packaging policy developments in North America and focuses on measures that are environmentally and economically sound, as well as socially responsible. The organization, with a material-neutral approach, encourages science-based decision-making on packaging initiatives and provides a point of view and guidance to policy-makers and thought leaders on the value and role of packaging.
AMERIPEN welcomes companies that support the philosophy of a collaborative trade and industry organization, active and cooperative issue resolution, and material and packaging system neutrality. More information is available at www.AMERIPEN.org.
AMERIPEN, the AMERIPEN logo, and The Power of Packaging in Balance are registered trademarks of the American Institute for Packaging and the Environment.
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