Zero waste has become the mantra of more companies and municipalities as landfill space is running out and consumers are becoming more aware of the impact wastes such as plastic have on the environment. And speaking of plastics, one of the industry’s oldest and largest trade associations, the Plastics Industry Trade Association (SPI), is starting to nudge its members to consider launching zero-waste programs.
To that end, SPI tweaked its mission statement and now claims that zero waste is integral to the long-term success of the plastics industry.
In order to give this mission statement more teeth, SPI launched a recognition program for member companies that are working toward zero-net-waste within their manufacturing operations. While offering participating companies several lofty goals, the bottom line for SPI is to maximize its members’ waste-diversion efforts, such as the return of excess materials like resins to a manufacturing process or implementing an energy-recovery program in areas where recycling is not necessarily viable.