Welcome to the Solutions Database,
a guide to technologies, strategies, and best practices for reducing plastic waste

• Closing the loop: Having sufficient quantity and quality of recyclable feedstock is a prerequisite for being able to purchase a large quantity of high quality recycled content. Companies that have committed to a high share of recycled content in their products depend on the availability of sufficient recyclable packaging to meet this commitment.
• Enabling the circular economy: Increasing the share of recyclable formats in the waste stream and streamlining the diversity of packaging formats are among the most important levers for improving recycling economics and helping to scale up the recycling industry. Many of the benefits of a robust circular economy – reduced resource extraction, reduced GHG emissions, reduced costs, and reduced waste and environmental pollution – can be enabled by shifting to recyclable formats.
• Responding to consumer expectations: Committing to 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging is becoming the new norm. Companies that put packaging which is not recyclable on the market, in practice potentially risk losing certain groups of consumers.

• Make the switch: Develop a plan to eliminate non-recyclable formats. For rigids, companies should consider migrating toward PET, HDPE and PP. For flexible packaging, many products may be able to shift to mono-material PE solutions.
• Consider tradeoffs: Moving from flexible to rigid, or shifting between rigid resins, may enhance recyclability but may also add cost and/or additional weight to a package, potentially also increasing the GHG emissions. It is important to also consider other levers, such as elimination or reuse, if a switch to a more recyclable format will cause negative impacts. Companies are encouraged to better understand their options and potential trade-offs.
• Share innovations: A unique design in a product category can be challenging for recycling programs to accept and adopt, simply because it is difficult to explain to consumers. By making solutions available to competitors, it may be possible to shift entire product categories, making the change more widespread and acceptable. Such category transitions also require investments in the system to ensure that MRFs will accept the new material.

• Consistency across product categories: It is important for brands to collaborate to help create clarity for consumers about the recyclability level of packaging for particular products. Aligning formats across brands and companies eases the recycling of the packages by consumers.
• Broad adoption of recycling labeling: While more and more brands are adopting the use of recyclability labels, it is critically important that consumers can easily identify which packages are recyclable as well as which ones are not – especially as product categories evolve to more uniform material usage.
• Stronger markets for certain formats including PET thermoforms: While PET bottle grades enjoy very strong markets, PET thermoform markets are still developing although research shows that circular, thermoform-to-thermoform recycling is possible.
• Greater acceptance for PET thermoforms and PP: While most MRFs accept PET and HDPE bottles, the acceptance for PET thermoforms and PP needs to expand.

Sprite bottle from The Coca-Cola Company: Sprite - the soda brand - is transitioning away from their iconic green bottle to a clear bottle to improve its value during recycling. This improves the economics of recycling. In Southeast Asia, clear PET bottles sell for an average of USD 84 per tonne more than coloured bottles (a 35% increase).