More than 52,000 Americans to FTC: Crack down on misleading recyclability claims

We submitted more than 52,000 comments to the Federal Trade Commission, asking that the agency take the common sense set of prohibiting the use of the word "recyclable," the chasing arrows recycling symbol, or other statements that imply a product is recyclable unless the item is actually recyclable.

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Claims about the recyclability of products should reflect whether those products are actually recyclable or not. Unfortunately, in large part, that is not currently the case. There are few rules about what can and cannot be labeled as recyclable. As a result, what label a product gets is largely left up to the plastics industry, leading to a lot of unclear and misleading claims that consumers cannot rely on.  

A new “widely recyclable” label created by the plastics industry, for example, makes it look like certain plastics can be recycled when the reality is that many of them aren’t accepted in most community recycling programs.

Determining which plastic products are and aren’t recyclable shouldn’t be left up to the plastics industry. Americans agree. PIRG, Environment America and Environmental Action submitted more than 52,000 comments from our members to the Federal Trade Commission, asking that the agency take the common sense set of prohibiting the use of the word “recyclable,” the chasing arrows recycling symbol, or other statements that imply a product is recyclable unless the item is actually recyclable.

Matt Casale

Former Director, Environment Campaigns, PIRG

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