Canadian Plastics Industry Association and Promenade Shopping Centre to Pilot Flexible Film Recycling Project

TORONTO, ON, April 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) is pleased to be working with Promenade Shopping Centre to launch a new element to its recycling program involving a pilot for collection and recycling of polyethylene (PE) flexible film.

Promenade has an established recycling and organics program that has been working for many years. Traditional materials such as paper, containers and food waste are collected and diverted from landfill. "Within the remaining waste stream, it was very apparent that there are large volumes of PE flexible film that could be recovered for recycling. This opportunity made it easy to work with the CPIA and take the next recycling step," said Liem Vu, General Manager, Promenade.

PE flexible film plastics are a large component of the commercial-packaging stream and are used increasingly for packaging, shipping and daily business. This pilot project is intended to establish a case study that can be utilized as a successful example of increasing PE flexible film recycling in a shopping centre environment. With the case study's lessons learned, PE flexible film recycling can be replicated at other shopping centres. Commercial PE flexible film generated from store operations includes clothing bags for shipping to store, pallet or stretch wrap, air pillows, and returned retail bags as part of product returns.

"Our goal is to educate and engage commercial centres to inform them on the value of recycling PE flexible film and we are pleased to have joined efforts with Promenade in our latest project" said Carol Hochu, President and CEO of the CPIA. The CPIA in collaboration with the Plastic Film Manufacturers Association of Canada (PFMAC) has retained the services of Summerhill to manage the project implementation and prepare the case study report.

In keeping with increasing PE flexible film, the CPIA recently published its annual post consumer plastics recycling report which notes that Canadian plastics recyclers want more supply; they have underutilized capacity creating ample opportunity for consumers and businesses to supply more PE flexible film to recyclers. It is estimated that the film and bag recycling capacity in Canada is utilized at 49%, which means there is plenty of room to increase PE flexible film recycling. The CPIA believes that with a successful pilot project, it can encourage more commercial centres to add PE flexible film as a component to their recycling programs and greater economic opportunities for Canadian recycling companies will ensue.

For more information and resources on increasing plastics recycling, please visit: www.plastics.ca/recycling.

Click here for the 2012 Post Consumer Plastics Recycling In Canada Report.

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association is the national voice of Canada's plastics industry, representing the interests of processors, material suppliers, equipment manufacturers and brand owners across the country. For more information, please visit www.plastics.ca.

Promenade Shopping Centre is owned and managed by The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Ltd., one of North America's largest investors, owners and managers of commercial real estate. Throughout Cadillac Fairview, sustainable thinking has turned into committed action. Through our company-wide GREEN AT WORK™ program, rigorous performance standards have been established for all existing and new properties in important areas such as energy and water conservation, waste management, material selection and usage, and product and service procurement. For more information, please visit www.cadillacfairview.com.