CPIA and Promenade Shopping Center in collaboration to pilot flexible PE film recycling project
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) is working with Promenade Shopping Center to launch a new element to its recycling program involving a pilot for collection and recycling of polyethylene (PE) flexible film.
PE flexible films are a large component of the commercial-packaging stream and are used increasingly for packaging, shipping and daily business. This kind of plastics generated from store operations includes clothing bags for shipping to store, pallet or stretch wrap, air pillows, and returned retail bags as part of product returns.
CPIA said this pilot project is intended to establish a case study that can be utilized as a successful example of increasing PE flexible film recycling in a shopping center environment.
"Our goal is to educate and engage commercial centers to inform them on the value of recycling PE flexible film and we are pleased to have joined efforts with Promenade in our latest project," said Carol Hochu, President and CEO of CPIA.
Promenade has an established recycling and organics program that has been working for many years. Traditional materials such as paper, containers and food waste are collected and diverted from landfill.
"Within the remaining waste stream, it was very apparent that there are large volumes of PE flexible film that could be recovered for recycling. This opportunity made it easy to work with the CPIA and take the next recycling step," explained Liem Vu, General Manager, Promenade.
CPIA, in collaboration with the Plastic Film Manufacturers Association of Canada (PFMAC) has retained the services of Summerhill to manage the project implementation and prepare the case study report.
According to the recently published CPIA annual post-consumer plastics recycling report, the film and bag recycling capacity in Canada is utilized at 49%, meaning there is plenty of room to increase PE flexible film recycling.
CPIA believes that with a successful pilot project, it can encourage more commercial centers to add PE flexible film as a component to their recycling programs and greater economic opportunities for Canadian recycling companies will ensue.
