USFFI Inks First Flexible Film Recycling Contracts With EFS, Merlin, GreenWaste, Valemi

The US Flexible Film Initiative has moved more than 3 million pounds of flexible plastic packaging from California collection programs to reclaimers in the U.S. and Canada for processing.

USFFI announced its inaugural slate of contracts on Monday. The nonprofit, founded by consumer brands in 2025, acts as a broker between MRF operators Valemi and GreenWaste and plastic film reclaimers EFS Plastics and Merlin Plastics. The offtake agreements support up to eight loads of recycled flexible plastic per month.

USFFI Executive Director Maite Quinn-Richards, speaking at SPC Advance in San Diego, said the group's initial request for information at the end of 2025 drew roughly 32 applicants. Working with a subset of MRFs and reclaimers, USFFI consistently moved material and identified what it would take to make a viable bale and where those bales could go.

Led by food and pet food companies, USFFI launched in 2025 to fund film and flexible plastic packaging recycling initiatives focused on California. Businesses there face recyclability requirements under SB 54, the extended producer responsibility law that requires all single-use packaging and plastic food ware to be recyclable or compostable by 2032 and packaging to reach a 30% recycling rate by 2028.

The needle was not moving fast enough for flexible packaging, and USFFI identified a gap in operational subsidies for MRFs and reclaimers. Eadaoin Quinn, sustainable packaging senior manager at USFFI member company Mars, called the new contracts "a very big deal because it's not just showing that it can be done, but it's actually commitment" long-term from both USFFI and recyclers.

USFFI has said it could expand to other states with EPR programs in the future. "We're really excited to share this with the regulators in California, regulators in Minnesota, Washington, to see that brands are committed to this. It's not just talking," Quinn said.

"If we could switch to a readily recyclable package tomorrow, that would be the best. But there are reasons that we are choosing to be in flexible packaging, and therefore we need to choose to see it through to end of life," she added.

USFFI believes the agreements can help prove that circularity for flexibles is possible and establish greater supply-demand certainty. Kevin Kelly, CEO of USFFI associate member company Emerald Packaging, said in Monday's announcement that the tangible contracts are "exactly the outcome we hoped to help create."

"It shows circularity is achievable when recyclers can sell the material at a profit," Kelly said.

USFFI has opened a second round of requests for information, targeting California-based MRFs as well as plastic reclaimers and secondary processors that could receive material. The deadline is Dec. 18.