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Trends That Make It Easier to Recycle Plastic Packaging

Source from: https://www.flexpackmag.com/articles/89872-trends-that-make-it-easier-to-recycle-plastic-packaging
April 8, 2019

Voluntary agreements

The New Plastics Economy initiative was launched by the Ellen McArthur Foundation in 2016, bringing together cities and large organisations to create a circular economy for plastics. The aims are to: ‘create an effective after-use plastics economy’, including improving recycling, the use of reusable packaging and scaling up of industrial composting for targeted applications. The initiative is running a number of activities, including competition for funding for innovative projects.

In Asia-Pacific, the organisation Circular Economy Asia has created the voluntary Asian Plastics and Packaging Agreement; signatories have a number of targets for an end to the use of landfill for packaging by 2050. Corporate social responsibility Large organisations all have their own corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. These normally have a large number of key performance indicators, of which packaging is a small part. Many, such as Nestlé and Danone, have their own life-cycle analysis tools. For plastics, many have taken on targets in line with EU targets for the New Plastics Economy. Some companies have made notably bolder statements. Coca-Cola has declared that its PET bottles will contain 50 percent recycled PET by the year 2020; while UK retailer Iceland Foods has declared an intention to go ‘plastic-free’ by 2023.

Environmental campaigning

Environmental lobby groups have been putting pressure on industry for decades. In recent years topics such as perceived over-packaging have also been regularly covered by media outlets. The latest of these campaigns is ocean plastic. High-profile media coverage, which uses upsetting imagery, has made marine pollution a hot topic.

Alongside this is a movement of people attempting to live plastic-free and many aspiring to a zero-waste lifestyle that does not focus on just one material. Although these individuals are relatively low in number compared to the total population, their influence is widespread due to the use of social media. Social media also has a large part to play in the success of online petitions – for instance, a petition to Walkers Crisps (Pepsico) in the UK to use recyclable packaging received over 300,000 signatures. Protestors even posted crisp packets back to Walkers. The company have since announced a collaboration with Terracycle for consumers to send in any crisp packets for recycling.

The Future Lifecycles of Packaging Recycling to 2023 offers a comprehensive analysis of key factors that will impact selection and use of recyclable, recovered and renewable packaging across 2018–23.