The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme have released the first annual progress report on the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. According to the report, companies are setting out actions to reduce problematic plastic packaging and increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging. Unilever, Mars, Incorporated and PepsiCo are announcing significant reductions in the use of virgin plastics by 2025.
A new one report Published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the report shows positive progress in efforts around the world to prevent plastic pollution. This new annual report comes 12 months after the launch of the Global Commitment to the New Plastics Economy, which provides a vision for a circular economy in the plastics sector.
Launched in October 2018, the Global Commitment now has more than 400 organizations committed to eliminating plastic containers and packaging, "unnecessary problems", carrying out innovations so that all plastic containers are 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable, as well as circulating safely and easily without becoming waste or generating environmental pollution.
The report aims to provide an unprecedented level of transparency on how nearly 200 companies and governments have moved to change their plastic production and use. According to the report, “progress is promising.”
“Around the world, citizens have called on governments and the plastics industry to take action to stop plastic pollution. Leading governments and companies have stepped forward to sign the Global Commitment and we can now see promising progress. This includes significant commitments to reduce the use of virgin plastic, the introduction of pilot reuse projects and unprecedented demand for recycled plastic in packaging,” said Sander Defruyt, New Plastics Economy Leader at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “But there is a long way to go and it is crucial that these efforts accelerate and scale up, and that more governments and companies take action to eliminate plastic pollution at source.”
Examples include Unilever, which has announced that it will reduce its use of virgin plastic in packaging by 50 percent; Mars, Incorporated has said it will make 25 percent reductions by 2025; and PepsiCo aims to reduce the use of virgin plastic in its beverage business by 20 percent by 2025.
Some of the plastic items and materials identified as “problematic” are being reduced and/or eliminated. For example, around 70 percent of signatories have started to remove single-use straws, carrier bags and carbon black plastics, and around 80 percent are eliminating PVC from their packaging.
Beyond bans, signatories, including governments such as Rwanda, the United Kingdom and Chile, and the cities of Sao Paulo and Austin, to name a few, are implementing a diverse set of policy measures ranging from public procurement and extended producer responsibility schemes to public awareness campaigns, tax measures and incentives for research and development.
“Addressing plastic pollution requires a fundamental shift from a linear economy to a circular economy for plastics, which is at the core of the Global Commitment to the New Plastics Economy. The 2019 progress report shows how major companies and governments are taking action in a systemic way, demonstrating its business and political sense. The benefits represent a huge opportunity, and a concerted approach leaves no excuses for not acting,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
“We need all actors to work together on the plastic pollution crisis: the UN Environment Programme calls on all relevant businesses and governments to join the Global Commitment to fight plastic pollution as part of the implementation plan “Towards a pollution-free planet,” Andersen added.
The analysis carried out by the report shows that, on average, 60 percent of the plastic packaging of commercial signatories is reusable, recyclable or compostable today. Through the Global Commitment they have committed to achieving this 100 percent by 2025.
Packaged goods companies and retailers that have signed the document have committed to increasing recycled plastic in packaging by more than five points, from 4 to 22 percent, by 2025. The total demand from signatory entities for recycled content in packaging by 2025 will exceed 5 million tons per year.
The report notes that while significant investments are being made to achieve these goals, more investment, innovation and transformation programs must be developed, urging more entities and governments to join the Global Commitment to ensure that the impact can be made at scale.
“Addressing plastic waste and its environmental pollution means going beyond recycling and reducing only the packaging commonly identified as problematic. Through innovation, product and supply chain redesign, and new business models, companies can reduce the use of plastic packaging, while opening up to new economic opportunities,” the report and press release explain.
Other examples cited include Indorama Ventures, a plastics company, which has committed to investing $1.5 billion to achieve its goal of producing 750,000 tonnes of recycled PET per year by 2025; and the UK Government is mobilising approximately £3 billion to improve local collection and recycling infrastructure and packaging innovation through public-private financing initiatives. In addition, recycling companies that have signed the Global Commitment 2 have committed to collectively quadruple the amount of recycled plastics they produce by 2025.
While more than 40 signatory companies are running pilot reuse schemes, currently less than 2 percent of plastic packaging in the group of signatories is reusable, indicating a significant but underexplored opportunity, the report says. Analysis by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has shown that replacing just 20 percent of single-use plastic packaging with reusable alternatives offers an opportunity of at least $10 billion. In addition, signatory governments support reuse schemes in a variety of ways, including through public awareness and education campaigns, extended producer responsibility, or public-private partnerships.
The New Plastics Economy will publish the next Global Commitment progress report in the fall of 2020, and every year until 2025.
