By Jim Johnson
SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
Published: September 17, 2014 12:32 pm ET
Updated: September 17, 2014 12:36 pm ET
Image By: Moore Recycling Associates Inc.
Patty Moore
A new online tool is out to get everybody speaking the same language when it comes to plastics recycling.
“Plastics Recycling Terms & Tools” has been developed with input from representatives throughout the plastics recycling chain. Reclaimers, recycling coordinators, plastics makers and trade associations all had their say. Material recovery facilities, a recycling company an exporter and a non-profit curbside recycling group also took part.
The new effort includes a common set of terms for recycling coordinators to use when educating residents.
With communities around the country using slightly different terms to describe the same recyclables, the goal of the new terms is to standardize the discussion to avoid confusion.
“Public opinion surveys and everyday experience demonstrate that many people are confused about which plastics are accepted for recycling in their community,” said CEO Patty Moore of Moore Recycling Associates Inc, a recycling consulting firm, in a statement. “The new plastics recycling terms were generated through extensive surveys and feedback from recycling professionals to get everyone speaking the same language so we can collect more of the plastics that reclaimers need.”
Along with developing a standard list of public outreach terms, the effort also includes a set of commodity terms previously created by Moore Recycling and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers. The move to standardize these terms strives to create more efficiencies when buying and selling plastics, organizers said. | 
