The Consumer Brands Association Endorses a Surcharge on Virgin Resin

The Consumer Brands Association (CBA), a trade group that champions growth and innovation for the consumer packaged goods industry, is suggesting a new surcharge on virgin resin.

Its site explains that, “Virgin resin, which is used to make plastic, is currently less expensive than recycled resin. A fee for virgin resin would put it on price parity with recycled resin, making it more cost effective for use in packaging.”

But, as noted by Steve Toloken, Assistant Managing Editor for Plastics News, “It's a big shift in thinking.” He goes on to explain that, “Part of CBA's strategy is to nationalize recycling policy and have Washington play a bigger role in what has historically been a state and local problem.”

Post-coronavirus, governments will be short on cash but will still want to address recycling problems…and many CBA companies have made major public commitments to use more recycled plastic and make plastic a more circular material. The resin fee has “the advantage of being able to generate money to fix a problem without the consumer ever feeling it directly. Politicians will like that.”

View the original opinion piece here.