Sustainable Plastic Raw Materials Circular Economy

Market Overview

The raw materials marketplace for manufacturers of plastic products is changing rapidly, driven by retailers and brand owners as a result of the “Activated” consumer.  Consumers today are “actively” making shopping and spending decisions in part based on a product, brand, or retailer’s commitment to social value, which includes our environment.  As a result, the manufacturing landscape, for both single and multi-use plastic products, along with the supply chains that serve them, is evolving rapidly toward circularity.  Today, manufacturers are becoming increasingly engaged in a number of sustainable manufacturing initiatives including:

  • Use of certified post-consumer recycled plastic raw materials,
  • Redesign of plastic products and packaging to use fewer resources,
  • Redesigning products to ensure end-of-life recyclability, and
  • Connecting into more sustainable and efficient circular economies.  

Today’s consumer “Activation” is spurring action downstream, including retailers, brands, governmental agencies and even capital investment managers, to pressure and even place mandates on manufacturers of plastic products with respect to sustainability and socially purposeful manufacturing.

GearedforGreen Circular Economy® creates, connects, and implements sustainable plastic raw material supply chains, working with resin producers and distributors, recyclers and suppliers of sustainable raw materials and additives, technical support, science, and certification providers, along with the end of use recycling & recollection community, to provide manufacturers of plastic products with enhanced  sustainable plastic raw material solutions.

Consumer market reports including consumer trends and consumer Activation is available upon request

Certified Post Consumer Sustainable Raw Materials Made from 100% Recycled Plastic Hangers.

Market Challenge

Historically, manufacturers purchased plastic raw materials direct from virgin resin producers and distributors and plastic resin supply was viewed in a very linear take-make-waste landscape. As the dominant raw material “value propositions” were focused on price per pound cost, ease of use, access to available consistent supply and overall cost of use, manufacturers favored using virgin plastics over recycled plastic resins.   

Using post-consumer plastic resins typically introduces a higher level of operational complexity and cost for manufacturers, because the physical properties and quality of recycled plastic resins are more variable than those of virgin resins which are made to more precise specifications, and also because recycled sustainable plastic resins aren’t as accessible in terms of available supply.

Adding to current 2019-2020 market challenges, virgin plastic resin pricing continues to fluctuate, but at relatively depressed pricing levels, presenting a challenge to the historical linear value conceptions.  Today however, the consumer landscape is changing, and manufacturers along with brands and retailers recognize the need for increased circular sustainability and are working collaboratively with their supply chains to increase usage of sustainable plastic raw materials.

GFG Circular Economy Solutions

Recognizing the challenges manufacturers face today in increasing their usage of sustainable and recycle grade plastic raw materials, GearedforGreen Circular Economy® has created a number of specialized plastic raw material supply chain solutions.

  • Supply – we maintain an active supply line of over 1B pounds per year of recycled plastic resins, including commodity and engineered grades.
  • Distribution – we maintain sustainable raw material distribution partnerships with leading plastic raw material distributors in the industry to ensure access to consistent supply
  • Specialty Grades – we have developed a number of specialized grades including 100% PCR Film Grade resins to meet the plastic film and bag industries needs for SB270 certified raw materials
  • Technical support – we provide full technical support including on-site tech support, ASTM testing and certification, engineering support, etc.
  • Specialty resins – we provide a number of specialty resins including sustainable FDA grades
  • Specialty advanced additives – we provide a number of advanced specialty additives that help improve the overall sustainability for plastic products including;
  • ”Bio-assimilation” additives that enable manufacturers to make sustainable plastic products that are both simultaneously recyclable and fully bio-degradable.
  • “Tracer” additives incorporated directly into new plastic products allow for complete visibility of post-consumer resin content to verify the entire recycling and re-manufacturing circular economy chain-of-custody.
  • Natural processing additives that lower CO2 impact
  • Odor and moisture control
  • Anti-fungal and anti-microbial

Bulk Sustainable Raw Material Purchasing programs which are designed to help retailers and brands to feed their supply chains by offering sustainable raw material demand certainty to drive increases in investment and capacity for manufacturers of post-consumer plastic resins.

Essential Elements

  • GearedforGreen Circular Economy® fully implements collaborative, connected, and transparent Circular Economy Partnerships among retailers, plastic product manufactures, and recycling- technology-science-certification providers that enable plastic Circular Economies to:
    • De-risk the recycling supply chain by creating diversified and closed loop markets, providing price indexing options, and ensuring transparent chain of custody recycling verification.
    • Balance supply and demand as retailers play an active role in creating consistent, long-term and sustainable demand solutions for recycled materials.
    • Drive social sustainable awareness and strengthen relationships between retailers, “activated” consumers and plastic product manufacturers.
    • Create a “collaborative and proactive industry platform” that stays ahead of consumer pressure and governmental mandates requiring post-consumer resin content percentages.  Working together transparently, retailers, recycling and technology providers, and plastic product manufactures can increase recycling rates, increase recycled content in new products, and continually improve plastic sustainability!