In September 2023, the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) launched an online digital campaign — Recycling is Real. Inspired by a roadside billboard suggesting plastic recycling is a myth, PLASTICS’ President and CEO Matt Seaholm led the creation of a campaign to counter such claims on the part of activists whose goal is to eliminate the production of plastic.
Using video as its medium, Recycling is Real has produced content designed to reinforce confidence in recycling and its critical role in the circular economy. Recycling is
Real videos also take decision makers inside recycling companies, showing how recycling happens, where it happens and introducing the people who make it happen.
Recycling is Real has highlighted the recycling and sustainability efforts of 15 companies thus far, and recently released its 12th video. The various informative recycling stories you can find on the Recycling is Real website include:
Placon (Madison, Wis.): Visit the first thermoforming company to open an on-site recycling center, where recovered PET plastic becomes EcoStar-brand recycled PET.
Novolex (North Vernon, Ind.): Go inside the company’s Hilex facility, where one of the specialties is recycling the plastic bags many people are fond of saying can’t be recycled.
MAAG Group (Eagle Rock, Va.): Meet people who make the fascinating machinery that powers the creation and recycling of plastic.
Ultra-Poly (Portland, Pa.): See how a company works to generate new streams of plastic material it can recycle to meet the recycled-content needs of customers.
Niagara Bottling (Rialto, Calif.): Watch how a bottled water company meets its own recycled-content needs as California’s largest consumer of recycled PET.
Amcor (Wytheville, Va.): Hear the pride in the voices of people who handle the recycling operations in a plant that makes some bottles you’ll recognize.
Epsilyte (Piqua, Ohio): Discover how PS packaging foam — unrecyclable, according to some — can be recycled into life-saving bicycle helmets.
Envision (Reidsville, N.C.): Enjoy the all-for-one dedication to recycling expressed by a close-knit family of recycling professionals.
ExxonMobil/Cyclyx/TenCate (Baton Rouge, La.): Explore an incredible partnership that collaboratively recovers and recycles artificial turf from athletic fields and utilizes advanced recycling.
PolyQuest (Farmingdale, N.Y.): Experience the unique atmosphere of the company’s PQ Recycling facility where PET bottles have been recycled for 30 years.
Nexus Circular (Atlanta): Learn about the fascinating process of advanced recycling that turns complex plastics into high-quality recycled material.
Printpack (Atlanta): Marvel at the machines that churn out familiar packaging as product pros discuss the role of advanced recycling in their operations.
In addition to providing important information about the reality of recycling, each Recycling is Real video introduces people who dedicate themselves every day to their jobs because they believe in the value of recycling to circularity, to the economic health of their communities, and to the many people like them whose jobs were created by recycling.
The people you’ll meet are sincere, their jobs are important ... and the recycling they do is very, very real.
