Wouldn't it be a better world if every piece of packaging that we use was recycled in a never-ending cycle of reuse? Sadly, that seems unlikely.

Literally millions of tons of packaging waste are generated each year, and it is said that even though it accounts for only 15 percent of the country's total waste, it has high visibility because packaging is used by nearly everyone every day. As one report states, “Packaging is part and parcel of lifestyles that have become almost completely disconnected from earth's natural cycles and capacity to process our industrial wastes.”

For instance, consider plastic. Plastics make packaging that is convenient, strong and relatively inexpensive. Whether it is used in rigid containers or films for flexible packaging, plastic accounts for more than 20 percent of US packaging.

With an estimated 40 types of resins used for packaging, plastic is probably the material with the fastest growth rates. However, plastic has the lowest recycling rates for all types of packaging material. Even when it's recycled, the most frequent use is to make plastic lumber.

Recycling plastic is not such an easy task. Plastic is high-volume, but low-weight, which makes collection and storage inefficient.

Many resin types are employed, and each has attributes that should be preserved in the recycling process. However, cross-contamination is common. This creates a need for identifying and sorting by resin type. That is difficult, time-consuming and costly. Multilayer laminated or co-extruded films provide packaging with numerous qualities for effective performance but can become a nightmare for recycling. Then there can be additional contamination from dyes, printing, adhesives, labels and other foreign materials such as food left inside containers.

This is not to say that recycling should not be a primary goal for the industry, the consumer and government. After all, we do share the same world, and its balance is threatened. However, an effective incentive for recycling must be found that rectifies the responsibilities and costs among all three groups. Study after study shows that consumers agree with the need for recycling but are not willing to pay more for recycled products. Nor, it seems, are they willing to set aside and sort the materials they've used.

The packaging industry and its suppliers are becoming much better at capturing and recycling waste created during the packaging process. That's low-hanging fruit because it's relatively easy to collect and likely has not been contaminated. Recycling rates for unprinted stretch and shrink wraps are among the highest in the industry, for example.

Europe, where plastic-recycling rates are the world's highest at 16.5 percent, has seen growth due to limited landfills, high consumer interest and European Union legislation that places more responsibility on the producers to develop effective collection. Japan, on the other hand, incinerates much of the plastic waste that is collected to capture its high value for energy production.

With sustainability rapidly becoming a top priority for packaging business, recycling is destined to become a more valuable component of this movement. However, it won't reach its full potential until industry, government and consumers take action to make recycling a profitable part of business.