System solutions for film recovery and recycling are desperately needed to help address the full scale of the plastic waste crisis and save millions of tons of plastic materials from landfills. The Recycling Partnership’s Film and Flexibles Recycling Coalition is on the cutting edge of this work, making grants that advance film collection, sorting, and processing. A recent grant to Colorado-based AMP Robotics supports the collection of film at AMP’s secondary sortation facility outside Atlanta, Georgia, using AMP Vortex™, an AI-driven solution for film recovery. The company develops artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and infrastructure for the recycling and waste industries.
The work of the Film and Flexibles Recycling Coalition (Coalition) is supported by a broad group of industry stakeholders seeking to increase recycling of film packaging and support end markets for film and flexible products. The Coalition’s primary focus is proving efficient and effective recovery through pilot projects as well as providing infrastructure and optimization grants, complementing The Partnership’s robust grant programs for communities and MRFs (Materials Recovery Facilities).
This type of infrastructure investment is a critical piece to laying the groundwork to scale residential recycling for these valuable materials – as of today, just 2% of U.S. households can recycle plastic film from home.
“Innovation and infrastructure improvements are key to increasing the recovery of film and flexible packaging,” said Rob Writz, Director of Industry Development for AMP Robotics. “With the support of The Recycling Partnership’s Film and Flexibles Recycling Coalition, we’re poised to enhance and scale our AI-powered automation solution to tackle the persistent challenge of film for MRFs and stimulate and support end markets.”
Film packaging offers a reduced carbon footprint compared to heavier packaging, and it is a widely used material – nearly 98 pounds of these materials, ranging from trash, grocery, and storage bags to pouches and wrappers, are found in each U.S. home per year. System developments for film and flexibles recycling are critical.
“The Film and Flexibles Recycling Coalition is thrilled to partner with AMP Robotics on finding new ways to recover and recycle film from MRFs,” said Trina Matta, Director of Film & Flexibles Recycling Advancement. “This pilot will help us develop a pathway for recycling material that thus far has been destined for the landfill. To address the plastic waste problem, we must reduce, reuse, and recycle all we can. Recycling has to be part of the solution.”
To learn more about the Coalition’s efforts to bring film recycling curbside, visit recyclingpartnership.org/film-and-flexibles. For those interested in learning more about applying for a grant for a MRF, secondary sortation or end market related to film plastics, contact Trina Matta at tmatta@recyclingpartnership.org.
About The Recycling Partnership
At The Recycling Partnership, we are solving for circularity. As a mission-driven NGO, we are committed to advancing a circular economy by building a better recycling system. We mobilize people, data, and solutions across the value chain to reduce waste and our impact on the environment while also unlocking economic benefits. We work on the ground with thousands of communities to transform underperforming recycling programs; we partner with companies to achieve packaging circularity, increase access to recycled materials, and meet sustainability commitments; and we work with government to develop policy solutions to address the systemic needs of our residential recycling system and advance a circular economy. We foster public-private partnerships and drive positive change at every step of the recycling and circularity process. Since 2014, we have diverted 770 million pounds of new recyclables from landfills, avoided more than 670,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, and driven significant reductions in targeted contamination rates. Learn more at recyclingpartnership.org.