PITCH-IN
CANADA
Resource Centre
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The Green Shopper Program
The 3R's Packaging Hierarchy
RECYCLE: The Third R
Recycle Packaging
Recycle is
third in importance.
Packaging should be designed to be recyclable and/or made with recycled
content.
A package or packaging material is considered to be
"recyclable" if there is a widely available and economically viable
collection, processing and marketing system for the product/material.
In general order of hierarchy, packaging may be recycled in
the following ways:
- recycling over and over back
into its original packaging type (also known as primary or "closed
loop" recycling
- recycling back into another
recyclable, useful package/marketable product
(also known as secondary
recycling)
- recycling back into another
non-recyclable product (also known as "open loop" or tertiary
recycling). Examples include:
- durable and marketable goods such as synthetic carpet
- "cascaded" (delayed disposal), short-lived
or single use marketable items such as seeding flowerpots
- recycling into "show piece" product that is
not marketable in quantity such as park benches made from disposable diapers
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Recycled Content
Recycled content is an important
part of the third R. Canadian national minimum content standards being developed by the National
Packaging Task Force include:
- a required and recognized percentage of recycled material
including the percentage of post-consumer material (ie: 100% recycled paper fibres
including 20% post-consumer content)
- a percentage of recycled material including
post-consumer material but does not meet a recognized standard that may have been
established for that material
- using only manufacturing plant scrap. These
materials have historically been added back into the products and should not be considered
recycled content.
Consumers should choose products which are
currently recyclable and/or contain recycled materials.
To return to The 3R's Packaging Hierarchy
click
here.
To return to the Packaging menu click
here.
To return to the Recycling menu click
here.