Several reports over recent months have highlighted the less than stellar headway companies are making in pushing back against the ongoing use of single-use plastic and continuing build up of plastic waste.

In the autumn, a report from not-for-profit As You Sow produced its Corporate Plastic Pollution Scorecard, 2021 report. This showed that whilst companies are starting to take steps to deal with plastic pollution, only one company earned the highest grade and all companies must do significantly more to reduce, if not eliminate, the environmental and financial impact of plastic pollution. The report also noted a large increase in calls for plastic reduction goals and support for expanded manufacturer responsibility.  

In November, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation released its latest annual Global Commitment 2021 Progress Report. The study found that brands and retailers are reducing the use of virgin plastic packaging but says that this has been achieved by replacing it with recycled plastic rather than any progress in reducing the volume of plastic packaging. The authors noted there was very little evidence of “ambitious efforts to reduce the need for single-use packaging in the first place”, with under 2% of signatories’ plastic packaging reusable. For most, the figure is zero.

Dame Ellen MacArthur was quoted saying:

“We won't recycle our way out of plastic pollution, eliminating single-use packaging is a vital part of the solution. Alarmingly, our report shows little investment in this…Shifting just 20% of plastic packaging from single-use to reuse is an opportunity estimated to be worth USD 10 billion.”

You can read more and access the report here.  

In December last year, industry analyst and market research company Gartner, Inc. predicted that nine in 10 companies will fail to meet their 2025 sustainable packaging commitments and said that dependence on plastic and single-use packaging is the main factor preventing enterprises from meeting their public sustainability pledges. Gartner also called for companies to take action to address the raft of Extended Producer Responsibility legislation that has been or will be enacted in countries around the world.

You can read more here. 

[Image Credit: © As You Sow]