CPIA partners with Walmart and SC Johnson on national recycling program

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) is partnering with retailer Walmart and brandmaker SC Johnson on a project to collect and recycle plastic bags and film.

The project details include a national network for consumer-facing collection of a wide range of plastic film and bags, including sandwich bags, grocery/produce bags, bread bags, dry cleaning bags, case wrap, newspaper bags and air pillows; new branding of Walmart's front-of-store collection containers with CPIA's logo in the bottom left corner; and a fully integrated in-store promotion campaign, including digital at-cash ads, shelf-talkers and in-aisle signage.

"This is an important initiative that offers a national collection network for a wide range of materials (film and bags) that are not consistently collected in residential programs across Canada," says Krista Friesen, CPIA's Vice President of Sustainability, in a statement.

CPIA will undertake material film audits at a select number of stores in coordination with Recovery Cascades, who is the service provider to Walmart across Canada. The intent, according to Ms. Friesen, is to provide a case study on return-to-retail collection so that other retailers may follow.

The program is an annually renewable partnership between the three participating parties.

"This is the first program of this scale that joins retail, industry and manufacturer partners in the common goal of sustainable plastic recycling, and we are excited to be a part of it," emphasizes Ms. Friesen.