Can Recycling Advancements Get Black Rigid Plastics Off Packaging’s Blacklist?

Recent advances in recycling technology are finally giving black rigid plastic packaging a better shot at being recovered rather than tossed. Black plastics (like food trays, coffee lids, and cosmetic tubs) have long been excluded from most U.S. residential recycling programs because standard near-infrared sorters can’t reliably detect them on conveyor belts. Newer systems, including optical sorters with laser object detection and AI-assisted vision technology, are being piloted at facilities to identify and separate these materials more effectively.

Despite this progress, some hurdles still remain. End markets for recycled black plastics are limited, and some brands are redesigning packaging to lighter hues to improve recyclability. Investments in advanced sortation equipment, including Waste Management’s laser-enabled optical sorter in Germantown, Wisconsin, signal a growing industry commitment to increasing capture rates for these once hard-to-recycle materials.

Learn more about how these new recycling technologies are expanding what’s possible for hard-to-recycle black plastics here.