According to a Flexible Packaging Association study from 2013, the post-consumer flexible packaging market is equal to 12 billion pounds. However, only 209 million pounds or 1.7% is recycled through retail drop-off and MRF collection. The lack of recycling is a result of a lagging infrastructure that is not sufficiently developed for dealing with the newer, more prominent material streams like flexible packaging. Unfortunately, flexible packaging is considered a contaminant to the existing streams of glass, rigid plastic, paper, and cardboard. It is very challenging for existing facilities to consider investment to capture this flexible packaging stream as the new equipment and reconfiguring of existing operations can be expensive.

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