Report finds few leaders & many laggards in fast food, beverage, and consumer goods industries
Increasing amounts of plastic packaging contributes to ocean pollution.
While plastic packaging is the fastest growing form of packaging in the U.S. in large part due to the popularity of fast food and consumer beverages, only 14% of it is recycled. That contributes to an overall waste of $11.4 billion in potential recycling revenue every year, according to a new report examining packaging used by fast food, beverage, and consumer goods/grocery companies. The report, issued by As You Sow (asyousow.org) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC, nrdc.org), reviews the packaging practices of 47 fast food/quick service restaurant (QSR) chains, beverage companies, and consumer good/grocery companies, and highlights leaders and laggards in the field.
“Waste and Opportunity 2015: Environmental Progress and Challenges in Food, Beverage, and Consumer Goods Packaging” finds that few companies have robust sustainable packaging policies or system-wide programs to recycle their packages. According to the report, far more brand leadership to boost lagging U.S. recycling rates and enhance sustainability of packaging is needed to help ensure that packaging is manufactured and disposed of responsibly. In addition to wasting valuable material, failure to recycle packaging contributes to the problem of pollution of oceans, lakes, and rivers, and it misses the opportunity to create new green recycling jobs.