Plastics recycling faces multiheaded challenge

National Harbor, Md. — Shannon Gordon likens the challenges faced by the recycled plastic industry as a hydra — a reference to a mythological creature with ill intent.

But just like in Greek lore, where Hercules slayed the nine-headed serpent, plastics reclaimers have the ability to overcome multiple obstacles.

Gordon is CEO of a company called Circular.co, which uses artificial intelligence to connect buyers and sellers of recycled resin. She told a March 24 crowd at the Plastics Recycling Conference in National Harbor that the recycling market faces "a hydra of blockers" inhibiting success.

Those blockers include perceptions that recycled resin is lower quality than virgin plastic, has limited availability and unpredictable pricing. Other perceptions include converter reluctance, higher costs and unreliable batches.

"The hydra blockers really set perceptions," she said, about the industry.

And with these perceptions, Gordon said it would not be unreasonable to question involvement in the business. "You start to think why in the world would we do this?"

But Gordon was speaking to a room full of people at a plastics recycling gathering, and they are involved. So she shared some advice for overcoming obstacles and creating more robust markets.

Plastics recycling, she said, suffers from what she called a "transparency problem" compared with virgin resin, where suppliers are consolidated and markets are long-established. Recycling, on the other hand, is highly fragmented, with many suppliers, including some with small quantities compared with their virgin resin counterparts.

Even with the obstacles that plastic recyclers face, Gordon said there is hope.

"We all play a role in creating some of the obstacles that exist in the industry and therefore also have a role in dismantling them," she told the crowd.

"I think that there's a transparency problem," she said.

She noted the importance of one segment of the recycled plastics supply chain to understand the challenges other portions of the chain face.

"There's no way that we're going to solve a complexity of problems in this industry unless we're able to kind of wear multiple hats across the value chain, understand each obstacle at each step, and collaboratively solve them together," Gordon said.

Crystal Bayliss, director of strategy and engagement at the U.S. Plastics Pact, shared the stage with Gordon. Bayliss, now working with the Pact to promote a circular plastics economy, previously was in the private sector in procurement. So she understands the challenges faced by plastic recyclers in marketing their product against lower priced virgin resin.

And she agrees there is a need for better communication and information sharing.

"And so, it really is, if we're going to solve this, we are really going to have to all come together across the entire industry and understand where everyone is coming from, and how we move forward," she said.

But Bayliss also told the crowd that it all goes back to Economics 101 and capitalism.

People can talk all day long about the importance of people and planet over profits, but there are basic economic factors at play when companies decide whether or not they are going to use recycled plastics.

"All businesses, if they're going to succeed, have to in some way, shape, or form deal with these dynamics. And it's what's fueling our economy, it's what's making my 401k increase so I can retire someday," she said. "We're all intertwined in the system, and we have to make sure that the solutions that we come up with work within the framework as well.

"So my favorite one that I like to remind folks of is the laws of supply and demand. And I have talked to companies before that have said, 'Well, we're designing our packaging to be recyclable, isn't that enough?' And I have to remind them if no one is buying your product, are you still going to run your line and make that product? And the answer is always no.

"And the same is with post-consumer recycled content. [If] nobody is buying it, there's not going to be an economic incentive to collect it, recycle it and sell it," she said. "It's important to remember that there's a lot of economics going on."