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Austin joins U.S. Plastics Pact, national effort to reduce waste

Published  August 26, 2020 12:18pm CDT
Environment
FOX 7 Austin

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Resource Recovery, a department of the City of Austin, has announced that it has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, a collaboration led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The pact was launched on Aug. 25 as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's global Plastics Pact network. The U.S. Plastics Pact is an ambitious initiative to unify diverse public-private stakeholders across the plastics value chain to rethink the way we design, use, and reuse plastics, to create a path toward a circular economy for plastic in the United States.

ARR will also join the U.S. Plastics Pact inaugural Advisory Council, along with 10-15 representatives from other sectors, to provide counsel and advice to the organization's steering committee.

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 "Austin Resource Recovery is proud to join the U.S. Plastics Pact to help reduce plastic waste on a national scale," said Austin Resource Recovery Director, Ken Snipes in a news release. "By joining this effort, we can re-imagine what a future looks like with a thriving circular economy."

"The City of Austin has a goal of reaching zero waste by 2040 and joining efforts like the U.S. Plastics Pact allows us to take one step closer towards that goal," said Snipes.

The U.S. Plastics Pact brings together organizations and business across the country including plastic packaging producers, brands, retailers, recyclers, waste management companies, policymakers, and other stakeholders, known as Activators, to work collectively toward scalable solutions tailored to the unique needs and challenges within the U.S landscape, through vital knowledge sharing and coordinated action.

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 These Activators agree to deliver these four targets collectively:

  1. Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025.
  2. By 2025, all plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
  3. By 2025, undertake ambitious actions to recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging effectively.
  4. By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30%.

For information about the U.S. Plastics Pact you can go here.