Recently, such claims have faced increased scrutiny from regulators and the public. An October 2023 analysis (International Paper, June 16, 2025) linked 1,850 companies to misleading communications, prompting tougher oversight and new laws targeting deceptive environmental marketing. Beyond legal risks, greenwashing damages customer trust and reputation. In our opinion, sustainability claims must be honest and evidence-backed to avoid severe consequences.

Consumers and investors demand more than promises—they want verifiable action.. Products marketed as sustainable often see higher sales growth, creating incentives for brands to exaggerate. However, regulators now challenge even aspirational statements.

Recycling claims, a frequent target of greenwashing, often lack substance. Many products labeled “recyclable” end up in landfills due to processing limitations or consumer misinformation. For instance, California now prohibits misleading recycling symbols, requiring claims to align with actual recycling capabilities. Similar global rules ensure products marketed as recyclable can actually be recycled.

To ensure recycling claims hold up, companies must shift from promises to proof. The best way to do this is by establishing a chain of custody that tracks waste from disposal to its final destination and is backed by legal documentation. This includes collection records, facility processing receipts, and end-market confirmations. Robust record-keeping turns sustainability claims into auditable data, proving outcomes instead of assumptions.

This is where Circular Solutions comes into play, by offering groundbreaking tools that provide full transparency and traceability across the recycling process. We help organizations track materials from start to finish, ensuring they meet recycling standards, and we use third-party verification blockchain technology to confirm the legitimacy of recycling claims. These services allow companies to provide data-backed evidence that supports their sustainability efforts.

Moving from messaging to measurement is crucial for sustainability credibility. Verifiable performance, supported by third-party audits and digital platforms, is replacing vague slogans with trustworthy data. This approach not only mitigates legal risks but also improves operational efficiency and builds brand trust through transparency and accountability.

You may have seen news recently announcing Circular Solutions’ partnership with the Green Sports Alliance (GSA) and its Foundation. GSA harnesses the power of sports, music, and entertainment to drive environmental change. This new partnership is a game changer for recycling.

Everybody Wins

Green Sports Alliance’s Play to Zero platform is a leadership recognition platform and sustainability performance toolkit for GSA Members that guides and celebrates progress towards a net zero energy, net zero water, zero waste, and a more resilient future.

Play to Zero is helping collegiate and professional teams, major venues, nonprofits, and corporations achieve their goals, and we want to encourage more organizations to participate. So, CS is donating 10 percent of all new engagements with GSA-member clients to the Green Sports Alliance Foundation, directly supporting the foundation’s mission to catalyze environmental progress across the sports and entertainment world.

Verification Builds Trust

Trust takes more than good intentions. Many venues are doing great work to collect recyclable materials to prevent them ending up in landfills or incineration. The problem is, often items organizations think they’re recycling actually don’t make it all the way through the process to create new bottles and cans, for example, from used ones.

That’s where Circular Solutions comes in. Our team is using tech-driven solutions to help venues verify their efforts at every step in the process—from the location to the hauler to the material recovery facility—so they can substantiate their results and report their real metrics that can’t be manipulated. In our experience, tools and technology are providing the edge organizations need to dispel doubt and show the effectiveness of their efforts with proven data that is beyond reproach. Often organizations can reduce their waste management costs in the process.

A Sporting Chance

Recycling at sports and entertainment venues is not just about managing trash—it’s about reducing environmental impact, meeting stakeholder and regulatory expectations, and reinforcing their role as a community leader.

This new partnership and our proprietary technology is giving recycling a sporting chance–to make sure the values central to sports, including honor and fairness, truth and transparency, are also giving recycling a fighting chance to succeed, and fans a chance to make a difference for the environment.

1. Be flexible

You know what they say about best-laid plans. When you create a plan, include Plan B options and contingency plans to consider in case the environment changes.

• Control what you can control

There’s no need to stress over things that are out of our hands. We may not be able to control pending legislation, but we can influence it with facts, and we can prepare our business for rule changes that are most likely to occur.

• Don’t wait for perfection to act

One of my favorite sayings is ‘don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.’ We must seek out the best intelligence we can and make calculated decisions based on what we know.

• Leverage your network

Remember, you are not in this boat alone. Connect with colleagues in the business to identify trends, challenges and potential solutions. Attend relevant conferences and consider areas where you might work together.

• Keep moving forward

No one can sit by and wait for the confusing to become clear. Take action, review progress and adjust as needed. Even small steps forward matter. They may be the foundation of larger steps down the road.

Since we know uncertainty is one of the few certainties in life, at CSA we customize circularity strategy to each individual client’s changing needs. We embrace science and are always looking for new technologies to make recycling more effective and cost-effective, while investing in the future. We help clients develop strategic relationships with best-in-class materials processors and help them get the best value from the recycled plastics marketplace.

While a world of uncertainty is a sure bet, it doesn’t have to be a roadblock. With the right mindset, approach, and partners, uncertainty might help us create just the opportunity we’re looking for.

Delaying action in search of the ‘perfect’ solution is a decision in itself—and is often the wrong one. Every moment spent waiting is a missed opportunity to innovate, reduce costs, and protect the environment. The truth is progress doesn’t require perfection; it requires action. And when it comes to recycling, the stakes are too high to stand still.

I often hear concerns like, ‘people won’t recycle properly,’ or ‘it all ends up in landfills anyway.’ These challenges are real, but they’re not insurmountable. At Circular Solutions Advisors, we’ve helped hundreds of organizations overcome these hurdles with proven, economically viable solutions. By working closely with the recycling supply chain, we ensure materials are properly collected and kept out of landfills—proving that recycling can work when done right.

We’re also pushing the boundaries of innovation. Through our strategic partnership with Plastiks, we’re leveraging blockchain technology to track recycled materials at every stage. This not only verifies recycling efforts but also provides organizations with immutable proof that their materials are being transformed into new products. It’s transparency and accountability at a whole new level.

Recycling isn’t just an environmental imperative—it’s a business opportunity. With the right processes and partners, we can turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s successes. The steps we take today may not be the final solution, but they set us on a path toward a cleaner environment, a stronger economy, and a more sustainable future. Doing nothing is not an option. The time to act is now.

This week, I had the privilege of participating on a panel at the Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum, a national conference celebrating women who are helping to drive success in our industry and shaping their companies’ future for the better. Moderator Teresa Schell and my fellow panelists Marcia Coulson, Jennifer Forell, Rolfe Olsen and I.

One key theme of the discussion was the resilience of women in the workforce, including the plastics industry, as we demonstrate adaptability, skill, and determination in a sector often dominated by male leaders.

As women in recycling, we talk about having a seat at the table. In many cases, we have the knowledge yet sit on the sidelines when we could be making mold-breaking contributions. In my experience, there are five must-haves to help female leaders accelerate their careers:

1. Business acumen and knowledge of the industry beyond your day-to-day role
2. Competence demonstrated every day to show your value to the organization
3. Self confidence to say what needs to be said, and the ability to take credit gracefully when it is earned
4. A mentor to help you navigate the corporate environment and an advocate to stand up for you when you are not in the ‘room where it happens’
5. The ability to be true to yourself—to know what you want in a career, and to serve as an internal compass when there are tough choices to be made along the way

As America’s first female secretary of state Madeleine Albright alluded to in her famous quote, it will take all of us in leadership roles today to look out for the next shining stars and help them succeed by sharing our experiences, guidance and networks.

I’d like to thank my fellow panelists for their leadership in this quest. With experience in the industry ranging from a few years to multiple decades, they are demonstrating the value women bring to a circular economy every day and are lighting a path for women who will be our next leaders.

Women in recycling now are breaking the mold every day. I look forward to seeing more of these future leaders rise to the C-suite and beyond to make our industry as strong as it can be, furthering our mission to optimize the use of resources and encourage environmental stewardship for the betterment of all.

“There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”

–Madeleine Albright, 2006

Historically, waste recycling industries have been fragmented, whether that’s from understanding what is truly being recycled and by whom—or standardizing reporting methodologies that accurately measure collection rates.

At Circular Solutions Advisors (CSA), our mission is to provide real recycling solutions to our clients to develop circular economies. We know that moving the recycling rate of roughly 32% up five or ten points is a steep hill to climb based on our current local-by-local and state-by-state recycling infrastructure.

Where we have found tremendous success is in creating circular economies through partnerships with like-minded organizations, as well as a few unlikely ones. There are numerous opportunities for partnership up and down the supply chain, including corporations, academic institutions, and NGOs.

When I spoke at the 2^nd World Recycling Convention in Rome in October, I shared best-practice examples of communities that have created effective coalitions to increase recycling. For example, Hilton Head, South Carolina was a recycling desert. Our company was brought in to help close the loop for used beverage containers (UBCs) and PET plastic bottles at the annual RBC Heritage Classic PGA golf event. We discovered the island did not have a material recovery facility (MRF) and we could not confirm the recycling transfer station material was being processed.

So, we created a coalition to develop and implement our action plan. We partnered with Beaufort County, Hilton Head Township, and Coca-Cola Consolidated. A local high school football team volunteered to sort recyclable material from collection bags. We worked with a local hauler to deliver the recycled material to Clemson University, which had built a mini-MRF on its property. The result: aluminum beverage containers and PET bottles from the golf tournament were diverted from the landfill and truly recycled.

By creating this coalition of governmental agencies, a consumer product company, a university and a local entrepreneur, we ensured circularity for the one-off major event. And we didn’t stop there. By finding the right partners, CSA is piloting a program to bring recycling to all of Hilton Head Island and the surrounding communities. Not only will residential recycling be collected, but also commercial recycling at hotels and resorts, golf courses, restaurants, hospitals, and special events such as marathons, golf tournaments, and others.

Now, these organizations—from teens to global beverage leaders—may seem to be unlikely partners. But they were just the right team, with the right skills and determination to make the impossible possible.

What issues does your organization face? Which partners could help your organization achieve its goals? Going it alone may be one option, but I’m a firm believer that we can do more when we work together.

When I spoke recently (or “a few weeks ago”) at the 2^nd World Recycling Convention in Rome, I found that no matter where we live in the world, we are all concerned with caring for the planet. Big events must become more sustainable. It’s do-able, but the reality is the larger the event, the more difficult the task.

I shared CSA’s experience with several major events, including the Brazil World Cup in 2014 and 2024 NCAA Final Four men’s and women’s tournaments. Though the sporting events are different, the principles that make them more environmentally friendly are the same.

Set Goals well in advance. 36 months is not too far out. Think about goals for the property, recycling partners like the hauler and the material recovery facility (MRF), and the local community. Make sure you’re on the same page and establish a strong collaboration.

Develop a Strategy that provides value to all your partners in the supply chain. Communicate it and obtain commitment from all the parties involved in the process.

Collaborative Execution: Before the Event. Execution can start as early as 12 months before the event happens as you test the supply chain and look for weakness within it. Create alternative solutions to fill the gaps in your plan, if needed. Be sure the property has the right infrastructure–both for event guests and behind the scenes. Be sure the staff is trained on how to support the recycling effort and communicate to attendees with clear signage.

…and After. The hauler picks up recyclable material and delivers it to the MRF, who processes and bales it and delivers it to the reprocessing plant and ultimately the manufacturer who turns creates new products or packaging.

Ensure your Event Measures Up. Your recycling data must be accurate, which means coordinating with every level of the supply chain. Test your measurement and obtain 3^rd party review of the methodology. Verification is critical since not all plastic (PET) that goes into a recycling bin makes it all the way through the process. With solid, verified information, communicate the event’s sustainability in a way that is clear and aligned with each level of the supply chain.

Build on your Success. With the solid foundation you’ve created for a greener event, you can build on your success for future events, at minimal cost, since the hard work has already been done.

Whether it’s a concert, a golf tournament or a soccer match, recycling at scale is a team sport. If you have a big event in the works, I’d love to connect with you and see how the CSA team can help make your event cleaner and greener–for your business and the planet.