06.30.22
In conjunction with the House Committee on Energy & Commerce’s hearing on “No Time to Waste: Solutions for America’s Broken Recycling System” the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) voiced its perspective as Congress examines ways to improve America’s recycling capabilities.
In a letter addressed to Chairman Paul Tanko and Ranking Member David McKinley of the Environment & Climate Change Subcommittee for the US House of Representatives dated June 29 from ACI Senior Director, Sustainability, Nathan Sell on behalf of the ACI, he expressed the organization’s recognition of the need to mitigate the impacts associated with the creation, use and disposal of product packaging while acknowledging the cleaning product packaging’s designation to protect the health and safety of consumers and their families while ensuring safe transport, storage and use of cleaning products during all stages of a product's lifecycle. He also informed them of the ACI’s collaboration on guidelines to help direct design and manufacturing, and to aid in the development and use of recyclable packaging. He also expressed their charting of a roadmap to achieve 100% collection and reuse, recycling or composting of cleaning product packaging waste by 2040.
“The optimization of ACI member company product packaging is a priority to deliver the performance of the products ACI members produce,” wrote Sell. “It is for this reason that we have established guiding principles that help us ensure our products, which provide hygiene and cleanliness, do so in a manner that is environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”
ACI also emphasized the importance of minimizing post-consumer waste for future generations and the health of our planet. ACI encourages policymakers to take the following steps to improve our recycling systems and encourage the adoption of more sustainable practices, including increasing availability of post-consumer recycled plastics; reducing single-use plastics; data collection; and consumer education.