LDPE is about two times more prevalent in packaging materials than polyethylene terephthalate (PET), according to Susan Graff,
principal and vice president of global corporate sustainability at Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), Ann Arbor, Michigan. She says the U.S. generates about 12 million pounds of flexible plastics a year.
However, LDPE faces more challenges than PET in terms of its recyclability.
“Right now, the markets are telling us that this material doesn’t have value,” Graff says. “However, we know in other parts of the world,
like Europe and Australia, there are companies using this material to make all kinds of building materials and infrastructure materials.
So, we know this material has value to those markets. It’s just in the U.S., where we were really dependent on China forever, now since China’s market has disappeared,
we don’t have the domestic markets to say we want this material.”
https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/mrff-pilot-project-jp-mascaro-recycle-flexible-film-plastic/
