The recycling of plastic wraps, bags and other film packaging grew 34 million pounds, or 3%, in 2015 to reach a minimum of nearly 1.2 billion pounds for the year. This marks the eleventh consecutive year of increases and the highest annual collection of plastic film since the survey began. Plastic film recycling – a category that includes flexible product wraps, bags and commercial stretch film made primarily from polyethylene (PE) – has increased nearly 84% since the first report was issued in 2005.
Released today at the Plastics Recycling Conference, the “2015 National Post-Consumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report” also found that film processing in the United States and Canada increased 11% for the year while exports declined by almost 4%.