Film recycling hits a pivotal moment

The next 12 months will be crucial for proving viability of flexible film recycling initiatives, said speakers from GDB Circular, General Mills and P&G. Recent pilots already have helped move at least 1.5 million pounds to end markets.

What happened

ROSEMONT, Ill. — After a rocky couple of years for film recyclers, recent pilot work is moving the notoriously challenging sector forward, and it is positioned to scale in the coming years. They’re also urgently teeing up compliance with California’s looming extended producer responsibility for packaging law, speakers discussed at the Packaging Recycling Summit on June 16.

Recycling rate requirements in state EPR laws, especially in California, are putting pressure on producers to achieve certain thresholds, or face fines or potential material bans come 2032. With producer responsibility organization Circular Action Alliance poised to begin implementing California’s program plan, there is a “growing recognition that this ban on non-recyclable packaging is real, and we need to be doing something about it,” said Patrick Keenan, a sustainable packaging engineer focused on R&D at General Mills.

Why it matters

Multiple groups formed last year to guide participants across the value chain in establishing and scaling film recycling operations: CalFFLex, an initiative of The Recycling Partnership’s Film and Flexibles Recycling Coalition, and the nonprofit US Flexible Film Initiative.

Market development is a pressing focal point. USFFI has worked with MRFs and reprocessors since December 2025 to identify viable end markets, and as of mid-June reported helping to move 1.5 million pounds of film from California to end markets nationwide.

“According to the needs assessment, California recycles about 66 million to 70 million pounds of film, and that's a 5% recycling rate. So it looks like we maybe increased the recycling rate in California by an entire percentage point in the last six months,” said Keenan, who is on USFFI’s board. He noted that if CAA believes this model works with their program plan, more money from EPR fees potentially could flow into the film space and help to increase the recycling rate.

This news brief is based on reporting published by Packaging Dive on 2026-07-01. The original report is linked below.