Our Power, Our Planet: How Plastic Recycling Drives Clean Energy and a Circular Economy
Celebrating Earth Day 2025 with the Association of Plastic Recyclers
Earth Day 2025 marks 55 years of collective action to protect our environment. This year’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” highlights the importance of confronting climate change and accelerating the transition to clean energy. At the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), we believe one of the most powerful tools we have for building a more sustainable future is plastic recycling. In just one year, Americans recycled 5 billion pounds of plastic—that’s the equivalent of 340 fully loaded 18-wheelers of plastic material kept out of landfills every day.
Recycling doesn’t just keep valuable materials out of landfills—it reduces greenhouse gas emissions, conserves energy, fuels American manufacturing, and supports a circular economy. Simply put: recycling is clean energy in action.
The Power of Recycling for a Cleaner Planet
Plastic recycling is a proven climate solution. In 2022 alone, plastic recycling in the U.S. reduced greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to taking every car in San Francisco off the road for a year.
How? Producing plastic products from recycled materials instead of virgin resin uses at least 75% less energy. In 2022, the energy saved by plastic recycling was enough to power 1 million American homes for a year. That’s real energy conservation—and it’s happening everyday thanks to the people and systems that make recycling possible.
When we recycle more, we extract less, waste less, and use energy more efficiently.
The Power of Recycling to Strengthen the U.S. Economy
Plastic recycling drives innovation and economic resilience. Recycled plastics are a critical resource for U.S. manufacturers, serving as the feedstock for new products and packaging that consumers rely on. A strong domestic recycling system reduces dependence on foreign materials and builds a more reliable, self-sustaining supply chain—one that keeps valuable resources circulating within the U.S. economy.
The recycling industry directly supports more than 171,000 American jobs across the country and generates over $7 billion in state and local tax revenue each year, along with nearly $12 billion in federal taxes. That economic footprint reflects the essential role of recycling in both our environmental future and our industrial strength.
When you support plastic recycling, you’re supporting American workers, cleaner supply chains, and a stronger, more circular economy.
The Power of Sustainable Design
A truly circular economy starts at the design stage. For over 30 years, the APR Design® Guide has set the standard for designing plastic packaging that is recyclable. In 2024, we took the next step by launching the APR Design® Guide Digital Tool—a modern, interactive platform that helps companies make better design decisions that support recyclability.
Designing today’s products with tomorrow in mind ensures that more materials can stay in the recycling stream—and out of landfills. It’s another way we harness our collective power for a cleaner planet.
The Power of Momentum: Recycling in Action
Despite the progress being made in plastic recycling, misinformation continues to cloud public understanding and threaten momentum. That’s why APR is launching Recycling in Action next month in May 2025—a national initiative that gives consumers an inside look at what really happens to their recyclables.
Through facility tours, videos, and educational tools, Recycling in Action will spotlight the innovations and partnerships making plastic recycling work. It’s designed to build trust, promote transparency, and show the real-world benefits of plastic recycling—because belief in the system fuels participation, and participation fuels impact.
The Power of Participation
This Earth Day, APR invites you to use your power to support plastic recycling as part of a cleaner energy future and a stronger U.S. economy. Here’s how:
- Participate in your local recycling program
- Choose products made with recycled content
- Advocate for sustainable design and smart recycling policies
- Visit the Recycling in Action website and find a participating facility near you
Together, we can turn the theme of Earth Day 2025—“Our Power, Our Planet”—into daily action that creates a cleaner, stronger, more circular world.