Your Yogurt Tub Says ‘Widely Recyclable’—but Is It Being Recycled?

The program, How2Recycle, said it made the change after data showed that more than 60% of consumers in the U.S.—the threshold required under federal rules to make the claim—are now allowed to put polypropylene tubs, bottles, jugs and jars in their recycling bins.

Environmental groups say access figures are less than half what the industry is claiming. They also say figures on access to recycling facilities are a poor representation of recycling rates in practice, since they simply measure what is eligible to be collected.

Polypropylene packaging—one of the most widely used for consumer products—had a U.S. recycling rate of 2.7% in 2018, according to most recently available data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The clash is emblematic of wider inconsistencies across the U.S. over how recycling is measured and communicated to consumers. One nonprofit found at least 18 ways in which recycling is defined by states, while America’s roughly 9,800 municipal curbside recycling programs make their own decisions about what materials to accept, often confusing consumers.

There are no federal requirements on recycling rates. A spokeswoman for the EPA said some states measure recycling by counting what is diverted from landfills, while some don’t calculate a recycling rate at all.

The EPA last year said it plans to develop national recycling definitions and measures to help raise recycling rates. A May report from the Energy Department showed a recycling rate of just 5% for plastics, which environmentalists say is driven by the complexity of materials, making them difficult to recycle, and a lack of ready buyers.

Currently, recycling labels on packaging must comply with Federal Trade Commission requirements outlined in the agency’s Green Guides, which explain how marketers can avoid misleading consumers when making environmental claims. How2Recycles says its labels, voluntarily adopted by 400 member companies from

Gap Inc.

to

Wendy’s Co.

to

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA,

follow those guides.

Waste-reduction nonprofits say the guides leave too much open to interpretation. The FTC’s rules on claims like widely recyclable includes “a very generous definition that allows companies to make such claims, even when the actual recycling rate of their material is very low,” said Susan Collins, president of the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit. The FTC also doesn’t routinely verify claims about collection, sorting and recycling, she added.

The FTC brings court actions against marketers that it believes make deceptive claims, but doesn’t preapprove claims or routinely seek to substantiate them outside of investigations and enforcement actions, a spokesman said. The agency is reviewing its Green Guides this year and plans to solicit opinions on how consumer understanding of environmental benefit claims may have changed, he added.

Even if polypropylene packaging’s recycling rate has increased since the EPA last published this data, the most still isn’t being made into new items, said Jan Dell, founder of the Last Beach Cleanup, a nonprofit. As such, polypropylene shouldn’t be labeled as widely recyclable, and doing so without ascertaining whether the material would actually be recycled violates FTC rules on deceptive marketing, she added.

Ms. Dell said Last Beach Cleanup’s calculations show that only 28% of Americans have access to recycling systems that accept polypropylene tubs.

How2Recycle said data provided by the Recycling Partnership, a plastics and consumer-goods industry-backed group, showed the U.S. polypropylene access rate at 65%. To calculate this it used an algorithm that trawls community recycling websites to deduce whether polypropylene is accepted. The Recycling Partnership said the rate had been boosted in recent years after it helped organize companies to give grants to sorting facilities to buy equipment.

The data takes into account “all avenues” that facilities are taking to sort and sell polypropylene, said Katherine Huded of the Recycling Partnership, but she acknowledged it may contain shortcomings. “The data in this space changes quickly and there are not good sources that provide an accurate and current picture,” she said.

Aside from using access data, How2Recycle says it also considered whether polypropylene had enough buyers who wanted to make it into new products before making the label change.

Some recyclers say demand for polypropylene is rising, partly driven by consumer products makers’ efforts to use more recycled material in their packaging.

Since the 1980s plastic packaging has surged, increasingly incorporating various colors, additives and other materials that have left consumers confused about what is recyclable and sorting facilities overwhelmed. Labeling has become a key way to educate consumers and reduce contamination in recycling bins, but nonprofits say loose rules and poor enforcement can pave the way for greenwashing.

A California district court in July gave preliminary approval for a $10 million settlement in a class action brought against

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.’s

Green Mountain coffee business, in which the plaintiffs said the company’s recyclable claims for its polypropylene pods were false and misleading. The pods are unlikely to be handled by recycling facilities because they are small and contaminated with food and foil, the suit alleged.

As part of the settlement, Keurig agreed to caveat its recyclability claims with the disclaimer “check locally—not recycled in many communities.” A spokeswoman said the pods comply with all federal and state laws, and that the company had agreed to a settlement to avoid a protracted litigation process.

The big discrepancy between recycling and access rates is partly explained by the predicament in which some disposal companies find themselves. Rethink Waste used to sell its polypropylene to China as part of mixed bales of plastic waste, but that ended in 2018 when China banned imports. Since then, California-based Rethink has sent its polypropylene to landfills, but doesn’t want to stop consumers putting the plastic in recycling bins in case it can eventually find a new buyer for the material, said director Joe La Mariana. “Markets change and tomorrow a market may emerge,” he said.

The program, How2Recycle, said it made the change after data showed that more than 60% of consumers in the U.S.—the threshold required under federal rules to make the claim—are now allowed to put polypropylene tubs, bottles, jugs and jars in their recycling bins.

Environmental groups say access figures are less than half what the industry is claiming. They also say figures on access to recycling facilities are a poor representation of recycling rates in practice, since they simply measure what is eligible to be collected.

Polypropylene packaging—one of the most widely used for consumer products—had a U.S. recycling rate of 2.7% in 2018, according to most recently available data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The clash is emblematic of wider inconsistencies across the U.S. over how recycling is measured and communicated to consumers. One nonprofit found at least 18 ways in which recycling is defined by states, while America’s roughly 9,800 municipal curbside recycling programs make their own decisions about what materials to accept, often confusing consumers.

There are no federal requirements on recycling rates. A spokeswoman for the EPA said some states measure recycling by counting what is diverted from landfills, while some don’t calculate a recycling rate at all.

The EPA last year said it plans to develop national recycling definitions and measures to help raise recycling rates. A May report from the Energy Department showed a recycling rate of just 5% for plastics, which environmentalists say is driven by the complexity of materials, making them difficult to recycle, and a lack of ready buyers.

Currently, recycling labels on packaging must comply with Federal Trade Commission requirements outlined in the agency’s Green Guides, which explain how marketers can avoid misleading consumers when making environmental claims. How2Recycles says its labels, voluntarily adopted by 400 member companies from

Gap Inc.

to

Wendy’s Co.

to

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA,

follow those guides.

Waste-reduction nonprofits say the guides leave too much open to interpretation. The FTC’s rules on claims like widely recyclable includes “a very generous definition that allows companies to make such claims, even when the actual recycling rate of their material is very low,” said Susan Collins, president of the Container Recycling Institute, a nonprofit. The FTC also doesn’t routinely verify claims about collection, sorting and recycling, she added.

The FTC brings court actions against marketers that it believes make deceptive claims, but doesn’t preapprove claims or routinely seek to substantiate them outside of investigations and enforcement actions, a spokesman said. The agency is reviewing its Green Guides this year and plans to solicit opinions on how consumer understanding of environmental benefit claims may have changed, he added.

Even if polypropylene packaging’s recycling rate has increased since the EPA last published this data, the most still isn’t being made into new items, said Jan Dell, founder of the Last Beach Cleanup, a nonprofit. As such, polypropylene shouldn’t be labeled as widely recyclable, and doing so without ascertaining whether the material would actually be recycled violates FTC rules on deceptive marketing, she added.

Ms. Dell said Last Beach Cleanup’s calculations show that only 28% of Americans have access to recycling systems that accept polypropylene tubs.

How2Recycle said data provided by the Recycling Partnership, a plastics and consumer-goods industry-backed group, showed the U.S. polypropylene access rate at 65%. To calculate this it used an algorithm that trawls community recycling websites to deduce whether polypropylene is accepted. The Recycling Partnership said the rate had been boosted in recent years after it helped organize companies to give grants to sorting facilities to buy equipment.

The data takes into account “all avenues” that facilities are taking to sort and sell polypropylene, said Katherine Huded of the Recycling Partnership, but she acknowledged it may contain shortcomings. “The data in this space changes quickly and there are not good sources that provide an accurate and current picture,” she said.

Aside from using access data, How2Recycle says it also considered whether polypropylene had enough buyers who wanted to make it into new products before making the label change.

Some recyclers say demand for polypropylene is rising, partly driven by consumer products makers’ efforts to use more recycled material in their packaging.

Since the 1980s plastic packaging has surged, increasingly incorporating various colors, additives and other materials that have left consumers confused about what is recyclable and sorting facilities overwhelmed. Labeling has become a key way to educate consumers and reduce contamination in recycling bins, but nonprofits say loose rules and poor enforcement can pave the way for greenwashing.

A California district court in July gave preliminary approval for a $10 million settlement in a class action brought against

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.’s

Green Mountain coffee business, in which the plaintiffs said the company’s recyclable claims for its polypropylene pods were false and misleading. The pods are unlikely to be handled by recycling facilities because they are small and contaminated with food and foil, the suit alleged.

As part of the settlement, Keurig agreed to caveat its recyclability claims with the disclaimer “check locally—not recycled in many communities.” A spokeswoman said the pods comply with all federal and state laws, and that the company had agreed to a settlement to avoid a protracted litigation process.

The big discrepancy between recycling and access rates is partly explained by the predicament in which some disposal companies find themselves. Rethink Waste used to sell its polypropylene to China as part of mixed bales of plastic waste, but that ended in 2018 when China banned imports. Since then, California-based Rethink has sent its polypropylene to landfills, but doesn’t want to stop consumers putting the plastic in recycling bins in case it can eventually find a new buyer for the material, said director Joe La Mariana. “Markets change and tomorrow a market may emerge,” he said.