DuPont Nonwovens and Waste Management have launched a national mail-in recycling program to capture banners, envelopes and other items printed on DuPont Tyvek. This would provide a method for printers and other large volume users of printed products who are looking for a responsible and simple alternative to adding Tyvek to the nation’s landfills.

Once recycled, Tyvek items will be repurposed for other products such as decking, playground equipment and corrugated pipes. The program answers a growing need for the return of printed wide-format materials including signs, banners and posters, as well as envelopes, wristbands and racing bibs into existing recycle streams.

The program also allows DuPont’s customers to track on-line what they have ordered, the weight of each package that was returned and an aggregate total for each year. “Tyvek is a unique, recyclable product made of high-density polyethylene that can be reused in many ways,” said Carolyn Burns, Marketing Manager, DuPont Nonwovens.

“This new alliance with Waste Management will allow us to provide another easy way to recycle used Tyvek products. DuPont’s existing program has recycled more than 1 million pounds to date, and our goal is to increase the amount of Tyvek recycled annually in the United States.” For more than 20 years, DuPont has had a program in place to capture and recycle Tyvek envelopes at its plant in Richmond, Va., and recycles approximately 50,000 pounds annually at the site.

The Waste Management alliance will allow DuPont to expand the program in the United States and make it easier for customers to recycle their used banners, envelopes and other products. DuPont has an established recycling program in Asia and has plans to expand it as well. Tyvek is made from 100 percent recyclable polyethylene.

“We’re proud to help make the recycling of printed Tyvek easier for customers throughout the United States,” said Robert Dishman, director, Waste Management. “As a leading North American recycler, we’re committed to growing recycling throughout the country for both our commercial and residential customers and our corporate goal of nearly tripling the amount of recyclables we process from 8 million to 20 million tons by 2020.”

About Waste Management Inc.

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout North America.

DuPont, one of the first companies to publicly establish environmental goals 19 years ago, has broadened its sustainability commitments beyond internal footprint reduction to include market-driven targets for both revenue and research and development investment. The goals are tied directly to business growth, specifically to the development of safer and environmentally improved new products for key global markets.

About Dupont

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries and regions, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.