AMBR released a new report, Designing Effective EPR: What to Do About Film & Flexible Packaging, which outlines the significant challenges and risks of including flexible and film plastics in curbside recycling programs — and offers clear guidance for policymakers designing EPR policies for packaging and paper.
Flexible packaging — from grocery bags and shipping mailers to chip bags and stand-up pouches — is among the fastest-growing types of packaging in the United States. But despite industry claims, most flexible and film plastics cannot be effectively recycled through single-stream curbside systems. Their complex material composition, lack of viable end markets, and disruptive impacts on recycling operations make them costly and problematic for recycling operators to manage.
In fact, only about 2% of flexible film packaging is recycled nationwide, and nearly all of that recovery occurs through dedicated drop-off programs for clean, single-material films — not through curbside collection. When flexible plastics are added to single-stream recycling, they contaminate paper streams, damage sorting equipment, and increase costs for local recycling programs.
“Everything now sold in flexible and film packaging used to be sold in packaging that was more recyclable,” said Lucy Mullany, National Policy Director at AMBR. “As states adopt and implement EPR laws, we have an exciting opportunity to reduce waste and redesign packaging to reusable, recyclable, or compostable alternatives. Strong EPR policies must prioritize waste reduction and hold producers accountable for meaningful redesign. That’s where investments should go—into proven solutions, not into efforts we know aren’t economically or environmentally viable.”
“Film and flexible packaging are flooding the marketplace, but it was never designed to be recycled,” added Katie Drews, National Coordinator for AMBR. “Trying to force it into recycling systems threatens to contaminate valuable materials like paper, drive up costs, and weaken trust in recycling itself. The U.S. should lead by investing in solutions that are proven to work—focusing on materials that can be safely and reliably recovered, remade, and kept in circulation.”
The report calls on policymakers to ensure that EPR systems deliver genuine environmental and economic benefits by:
- ❌ Excluding flexible films from curbside recycling programs to prevent costly, unjust contamination and operational disruptions.
- ♻️ Prioritizing source reduction and reuse systems, or recyclable and compostable alternatives that reduce waste at the source.
- 📊 Requiring robust producer reporting and environmentally responsible end market standards to ensure transparency and accountability.
- 🔥 Prohibiting incineration or fuel conversion from counting as recycling and rejecting mass balance accounting for recycled content claims.
By focusing on materials that can be authentically recovered and reused through producer responsibility, states can build stronger, more credible recycling systems that support a circular economy and protect communities across the globe from the growing burden of plastic waste.