Plastics industry applauds Trump’s focus on strengthening manufacturing

By Tate Miller
The Center Square

The plastics industry is pleased by President Donald Trump’s mention at the State of the Union of strengthening manufacturing in the nation, with an industry president stressing the importance of next modernizing the recycling infrastructure.

Ross Eisenberg, president of America’s Plastic Makers, told The Center Square that at the State of the Union “the President made clear that strengthening American manufacturing remains a national priority.”

“That’s exactly where the plastics industry is focused,” Eisenberg said.

America’s Plastic Makers is a division of the American Chemistry Council.

Eisenberg told The Center Square: “Our sector already supports more than five million U.S. jobs and over one trillion dollars in economic output.”

“The next step” in the area of plastics “is to modernize America’s recycling infrastructure,” Eiisenberg said.

“We could make more here; we could recycle more here; we just need the policies that get us there,” Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg said that “the fastest way to strengthen U.S. manufacturing is to give companies the policy certainty they need.”

“Two bills now before Congress, the Recycling Technology Innovation Act and the bipartisan Recycled Materials Attribution Act, would help modernize our recycling system, provide national standards for recycled content marketing claims, and help unlock investment in new American facilities,” Eisenberg said.

“Plastics are essential to the U.S. economy in sectors like automotive, agriculture, healthcare, clean energy and advanced technology,” Eisenberg stated.

“We also know we need to keep more plastic out of the environment,” Eisenberg said.

“With the right policies, the United States can lead in both manufacturing and recycling innovation,” Eisenberg said.

Strengthening manufacturing is important to the plastics industry, because, as The Center Square previously reported, the industry is “one of the ‘most powerful economic engines’ in the U.S.“

As Eisenberg alluded to, the plastics industry generates “more than $1.1 trillion in total economic output,” and operates with a large number of other industries reliant on itself, The Center Square reported.

Eisenberg told The Center Square last year that “expanding and modernizing U.S. recycling infrastructure presents a clear opportunity to create new jobs, keep valuable materials in use, and reduce waste.”