How The NLCRC Members Are Advancing Petroleum Packaging Solutions
2021 was the foundational year of the National Lubricant Container Recycling Coalition (NLCRC). As we near the end of 2023, reflecting on our coalition's growth and the changing business landscape, one thing remains firm. The implementation of effective and sustainable waste management strategies is of critical importance. The challenges with recycling HDPE from lubricant containers, given the low costs of virgin plastics, have led to minimal solutions, causing the waste to end up in landfills. It is important to search for solutions to improve recycling methods and rates.
The National Lubricant Container Recycling Coalition (NLCRC) recognizes the barriers facing the petroleum packaging industry are more significant than any one company can solve. As such, the NLCRC’s vision is to develop a collaborative, market-sustaining program to reduce landfill disposal of lubricant oil containers and associated petroleum packaging and develop solutions that ensure responsible recycling of these materials.
To achieve this vision, the NLCRC is focused on understanding and optimizing the logistics of petroleum packaging collection through processing in the Atlanta Lubricant Container Recycling Pilot. The NLCRC’s work involves addressing, assessing, and measuring the economic and market drivers for post-consumer recovery and recycling while gaining deeper insights into consumer waste disposal behaviors and defining parameters for model development and future scalability.
Additionally and in response to EPR packaging legislation, the NLCRC is working to accelerate and deepen the knowledge of the business risks and opportunities imposed with implementing EPR and developing models to comply for stakeholder companies. As the states with packaging EPR in place, such as Oregon, Maine, Colorado, and California, are going through a policymaking process, and, in most cases, an estimated timeline for program implementation has been developed. The NLCRC is analyzing future compliance budget implications for producers or brand owners. Fortunately, changing legislation can represent an opportunity for the petroleum packaging industry to collaborate and move forward under a unified approach for the recycling of plastics such as lubricant containers.
The NLCRC’s actions are possible due to our members and the collaboration with industry members. This sets a closer step towards developing solutions that ensure responsible recycling of hard-to-degrade lubricant oil containers and associated petroleum packaging.
With that, you are invited to get to know the NLCRC members.
Collaboration is a foundational component of the NLCRC and is reflected in our member base and within the coalition’s working groups uniting stakeholders across the plastic lubricant container value chain, including lubricant producers, plastics packaging producers, retailers, recyclers, and resin producers.
Learn how the NLCRC is addressing the waste problem by becoming a member. Connect with us through LinkedIn and Twitter. If you have any questions or inquiries, send us an email at hello@nationallcrc.com.
