CPGs Advance in PCR Use, Despite Missing 2025 Goals

An AMERIPEN study reveals that while packaging recycling rates and capacity are improving, meeting 2025 sustainability goals remains challenging due to persistent supply gaps.

Rob Keith, Policy and Membership Director of AMERIPEN
Rob Keith, Policy and Membership Director of AMERIPEN
Photo courtesy of AMERIPEN

Packaging recycling rates and recycling capacity are improving, albeit not quite at the pace some have hoped. Although CPG companies have made noteworthy progress toward their sustainability goals, 2025 goals are still out of reach for many. Challenges obtaining sufficient supply remains the biggest hurdle to overcome.

This snapshot of the packaging industry from AMERIPEN’s “U.S. Packaging Recycled Content Goals Analysis” study also highlights the need for additional reclamation to meet post-consumer recycled content (PCR) demand. The newly released study details how the packaging industry is making meaningful strides toward circularity in recent years while contending with ongoing challenges in collection, capacity, and quality.


  Read this related column, “AMERIPEN’s Packaging Policy Update & 2025 Outlook”

AMERIPEN engaged Circular Matters, a consulting firm with expertise in packaging and recovery systems, to help evaluate 2023 data on supply, demand, and capacity for recycled materials in paper, plastic, metal, and glass packaging in the U.S. The report, funded by PLASTICS’ Recycling Is Real campaign, documents progress made in sustainable packaging and increased recycling capacity since AMERIPEN issued a similar report in 2021. The findings offer encouragement that progress is being made.  

The findings

To get a picture of demand for PCR in relation to supply of recycled materials, researchers reviewed the voluntary and publicly declared recycled content goals of 46 CPG companies. They then added goals set by trade associations and weighed the impact of state-mandated extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements or recycled content mandates on the packaging industry—all established after the release of the initial 2021 report.

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