To demonstrate the many different ways that plastics help make life better, the Plastics Make it Possible® campaign has created a new video showing how plastic prosthetics are helping our four-legged friends overcome injury and live full and active lives. The video follows Hudson, a four-year-old pit bull who lost one of his paws as […]
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Vice President, Plastics Division | American Chemistry CouncilNew study finds greater access to plastics recycling programs
Good news on the recycling front: a new study found that more than 60 percent of the U.S. population has access to recycling programs for a wide range of plastics. The study, “2015-16 Centralized Study on Availability of Plastics Recycling,” conducted by Resource Recycling Systems and Moore Recycling Associates Inc., looked at access to programs […]
Our tiny house hits the road with a big message on energy efficiency
Last year our Plastics Make it Possible® campaign built a tiny house to demonstrate the role plastic building materials play in increasing energy efficiency. We unveiled the house at the California Science Center in LA, where more than 25,000 visitors saw it firsthand. This year, we decided to take a road trip and took the […]
Plastics reduce environmental cost by nearly four times compared to alternative materials
The results of a new study are disrupting “conventional wisdom” about the sustainability of plastics. The study, conducted by Trucost, found that the environmental costs of using plastics in packaging and consumer goods is nearly four times less than they would be if plastics were replaced with alternative materials. While the environmental costs to produce […]
LiveScience Op-Ed: Plastics recycling continuing to make real progress
Contrary to what you might have seen in the press recently, plastics recycling is continuing to make real progress. Steve Alexander of the Association of Plastics Recyclers, Steve Sikra of the Procter & Gamble Company, and I recently joined forces to set the record straight. A lot of our recent progress can be attributed to collaboration […]
New study outlines a more targeted offense to tackle ‘ocean plastic’
Strong, lightweight plastics are amazing materials that contribute to sustainability by helping to reduce energy use, waste and greenhouse gas emissions. But when plastics end up as ocean litter, their full sustainability benefits aren’t realized. No one wants to see trash of any kind in our environment. Plastics makers realize that ocean litter is a […]
Plastics-to-oil technologies could add $9 billion to U.S. economy, says new report
Isn’t it time we stop burying our non-recycled plastics? Our society is always looking for new, alternative energy sources. Energy is not only vital to most everything we do, it helps to create jobs and enables economic growth. On this blog, for example, we’ve discussed how recovering non-recycled plastics and turning them into energy has […]
FutureStructure Summit explores how leading states and municipalities are investing in energy recovery technologies
At the recent FutureStructure Summit in Boston, Massachusetts, state and local policymakers and key stakeholders discussed strategies for developing the necessary infrastructure for cities of the future. The discussions, sponsored by GOVERNING Magazine, focused on water, waste, and energy issues, including options to recover energy from a city’s non-recycled waste. One panel discussion, “Using Waste […]
At home and at the ball park, recycling is always a home run
At ACC, we encourage everyone to recycle their plastic bottles and containers whenever they can — at home, at the mall, even at the baseball stadium. It makes sense: many beverages sold at baseball games come in plastic bottles or are served in plastic cups, making the ballpark a great place for plastic recycling. Recently, […]
Plasticity 2014: New ways of thinking about old problems
Plasticity 2014 was an inspiring event. This annual discussion about the future of plastics brings together designers, brand owners, environmental groups, and public and private sector leaders to discuss design solutions, material innovations, plastic recycling, and waste reduction with the aim of encouraging further innovations and collaborations between stakeholders. Plastics have become the “go to” […]
