The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Commitment 2022 report, which was published on November 30, 2022, presents a sobering picture of how a lack of consistent progress endangers the viability of the EMF’s vibrant and promising initiative. Apart from the fact that it inhibits attempts to boost recycling to higher and more substantial levels, it also erodes public faith in businesses’ recycling efforts.
In other words, it serves as a wake-up call for all businesses participating in the global packaging supply chain.
The research makes it quite evident that without every sector throughout the whole supply chain concentrating on bringing about radical improvements in their particular field, very little long-term progress will be made. An excellent illustration of this is the recent turmoil with the Australian programme for collecting soft plastics, REDcycle.
To make recycled content more widely available, the entire system needs to be changed, and everyone from brands to shops must share the same potential and accountability with the recycling industry to achieve this.
However, the Global Commitment report reveals that several businesses significantly increased their usage of total plastic packaging from 2020 to 2021 (+4.3%), which resulted in an increase of 2.5% in the use of virgin plastic. This number exceeded all previous developments in recycled content.
Mixed news is brought by brands.
If one takes a closer look at the numbers, one can see that some businesses, like Unilever, increased their usage of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content by 17% while decreasing their use of virgin plastic by 16% from 2018 to 2021. Others, like Mars, on the other hand, grew their use of virgin plastic by 11% during the same time period while doing nothing to change its PCR content, which apparently stays at a depressing 0%. Unilever is not alone, though; L’Oreal also saw an increase in PCR of 16.3% while reducing their use of virgin plastic by 5%. Henkel increased their use of PCR by 7.3% while decreasing the consumption of virgin plastic by 13%.
Fundamentally, this demonstrates that dependence on virgin plastic may be decreased while that on recycled material can be increased. But the reality is that because not everyone seems to be motivated by the project in the same way, the window for further reform is at risk of closing.
The research finds significant advancements in firms’ major investments and plans for creating packaging that is 100% technically recyclable through investments in new recycling facilities in developed and emerging countries. However, infrastructures for collecting and sorting in urban and rural areas must be greatly enhanced globally to enable these initiatives.
In order to achieve circularity, manufacturers must make a concerted and coherent effort in which each sector of the supply chain assumes responsibility for its part, including resin production, packaging design, post-consumer gathering, reprocessing into new resins, and perhaps most importantly, using recreated resins in new consumer products. From the standpoint of the brands, there is still a lot that can be done to rethink packaging so that recycling is completely integrated. This refers to a whole lifespan that was defined before packaging was produced.
As Brussels plans to increase demand for recycled plastic by expanding recycled content objectives from plastic bottles to all plastic packaging, it is hoped that the industry will receive the boost it needs from the revision of EU legislation on packaging and packaging waste that the European Commission has proposed.
It has far-reaching effects.
Forming new goals to normalise sustainability
The new law proposed on November 30, 2022Â established crucial pillars from the Circular Economy Action Plan of the European Green Deal to make sustainable products the standard. The European Parliament and the Council will now debate this proposal on packaging and packaging waste via the regular legislative process.
The targets for plastics might be 10% by 2030 for contact-sensitive (i.e., food-grade) plastic packaging, such as food wrappers, and 50% by 2040. Targets for 2030 for single-use plastic beverage bottles might be 30%, increasing to 65% by 2040, and 35% for other plastic packaging, also increasing to 65% by that time.
The goal is clear: Brussels wants to increase the market for recycled plastics by requiring a minimum quantity of recycled material in new packaging, regardless of the precise objectives that are ultimately set. This goal places a lot of pressure on manufacturers to ensure that recycled plastics can be utilised safely in place of virgin resin in the key food contact applications. It is time to update the rules and procedures of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to ensure that they reflect the latest scientific discoveries and technological developments accessible to EU state members. By employing the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2) standard, businesses can increase recycled content while decreasing their environmental impact.
Upheavals are a necessary element of evolving from the culture that is driving us into a climatic catastrophe, but no one can bear to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. To achieve goals that will actually tilt the environmental balance in the right direction, one needs ambition and vision. Each link in the chain must go above and beyond their obligations to sustainability in order to support the ecosystem in doing the same.
