UPDATE: Sept. 23, 2024: FFRA plans to release its film recycling directory during the National Plastics Conference in October. Several mid-sized retailers will be among the first in the directory during a soft launch period, followed by a formal launch and consumer awareness campaign in November.

FFRA plans to launch its website and new logo next month as well. Patrick Krieger, vice president of sustainability at Plastics, said during the recent Packaging Recycling Summit that the group chose the butterfly visual because the animals are light, flexible and represent the idea of metamorphosis.

“We aren’t happy with what recycling is, and we know that we need to get better at it. But we're not going to be better tomorrow. It is a process, and we need to be able to communicate that with people,” Krieger said.

March 19: The Plastics Industry Association is launching the Flexible Film Recycling Alliance in an effort to improve flexible film recycling from the consumer, commercial and industrial perspectives.

FFRA will include stakeholders, including the Flexible Packaging Association, from across the flexible plastic supply chain to address challenges with recycling plastic films and bags, including access to recycling and increasing the recycling rate.

“We are focusing on the consumer side in the near term and want to look at other products in the future as we build program capacity,” said Patrick Krieger, vice president of sustainability at Plastics, via email. “We recognize there are many opportunities for additional film recycling, especially in the retail stores we are engaging.”

One of the group’s first goals is to create a film recycling directory to serve as a resource both for industry and consumers. FFRA has already chosen a vendor to help build the directory, Krieger said.

A previously long-standing directory of film drop-off locations, maintained by Stina, was taken down late last year. Questions had circulated about the effectiveness of drop-off film recycling programs. Flexibles and films have a low recovery rate, with a 2021 Closed Loop Partners study estimating 4% recovery of residential polyethylene film.

FFRA is also engaging with some regional retailers to discuss how to add store location data in a convenient way for them. “We hope to have a proof of concept in the first half of the year, with a more precise forecast for the national availability of the directory by the end of summer,” Krieger said.

The alliance also aims to promote various types of education about film recycling, including for consumers and policymakers. 

Although other flexible film groups already exist, “[w]e were very intentional in creating this new group” and reached out to other groups working on film recycling, Krieger said. “We believe that our work is complementary to theirs.”

FFRA still is in its early stages. While some companies and organizations already have signed on, such as FPA, their names largely will be withheld for a few more weeks so more companies can join as founding members, Krieger said.