Show your commitment to sustainability
Reduce your environmental impact by incorporating post-consumer recycled content into your product packaging.
Using post-consumer recycled (PCR) content, including ocean-bound plastic content, shows your customers your commitment to preserving our planet. PCR content is recycled material that's used to create new bottles, and bottle-grade PET and HDPE are two of the most popular and valuable types. Incorporating this type of material into your packaging makes your product more sustainable, as well as more appealing to retailers and consumers.
What Is PCR Content?
PCR is plastic that was in the market, collected from the consumer and put through the recycling network where it's cleaned, ground and compounded into uniform pellets. This material is then incorporated into new containers using special equipment. Using PCR content in your packaging lowers your product's environmental impact and also helps divert plastics from landfills. It also reduces your company's carbon footprint and appeals to retailers and customers who prefer sustainably packaged goods.
PCR at Graham
Customize Your Sustainable Packaging
We have advanced technologies that allow us to make bottles with various percentages of recycled content, and our long-term goal is to incorporate an average of 20% PCR into our bottles. Our development team will work with you to determine the best way to meet your needs for recycled content. Our recommendations for PCR use will vary based on your industry, application and product. We’ve supplied our customers with plastic packaging containing anywhere from 10% to 100% recycled material.
What Is Ocean-Bound Plastic?
Ocean-bound plastic is plastic waste that may pollute our oceans if left unchecked. It’s usually collected near waterways, like rivers and lakes, from at-risk zones near a coastline. It's estimated that 8 million metric tons of plastic go into the ocean every year. By incorporating this resource into your packaging, you're contributing to a cleaner, healthier planet.
OBP at Graham
Protecting Our Oceans From Waste
We can use ocean-bound plastic to create recycled plastic packaging for a range of markets. We offer food-grade and non-food-grade packaging solutions that incorporate ocean-bound PCR, and, to help maximize its value to our customers, we’re exploring blending options that combine regular PCR with ocean-bound PCR. We can run ocean-bound plastic PCR in both single-layer and multilayer bottles today.
What Is Post-Industrial Recycled Material?
Post-industrial recycled material (PIR) refers to plastic scrap or waste created during the original bottle manufacturing process. It may come from scrapped bottles, flake or even reprocessed pellets. The main difference between PIR and PCR is that PIR is plastic content that has never entered the consumer market.
PIR at Graham
Reusing Plastic Waste
At Graham, most packages we produce have some level of post-industrial recycled content that comes from our in-plant regrind material. Each year we also reuse millions of pounds of post-industrial bottle flake at the Graham Recycling Company.