Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Post

Interesting dynamics to consider for Material Innovation & Development in the USA.

Canada takes action on plastic waste with new reporting registry ♻ 🇨🇦 The Canadian govt is launching a Federal Plastics Registry, requiring businesses to report on the lifecycle of plastic materials they handles. This aims to understand plastic flow within the economy and inform future plastic reduction strategies. Key points: 1. Reporting starts in 2025 for the 2024 calendar year 2. Includes plastic resin manufacturers, product producers, and service providers 3. Covers various plastic types, including packaging and agricultural products 4. Data will track plastic from production and import to end-of-life management This move towards transparency and data-driven decision making is a significant step towards a more sustainable future 🔆 #sustainability #Canada #plasticwaste https://lnkd.in/gTxBsmMC

On July 3rd 2021, the disposable plastic ban in Germany went into effect. No more plastic straws, plastic cotton buds, cutlery and plates, balloon sticks, and food containers are available in stores anymore. What legislation intended was the reduction of single-use plastic waste. This is a challenging goal considering Germany’s plastic packaging recycling rate is over 98% while the general recycling rate is above 60%. This makes Germany & South Korea the countries with the highest recycling rates in the world. However, what starts with good intentions does not always reach its goal.   With a plastic recycling rate of approx. 5% in America (equals 51 million tons), and several jurisdictions across the US have instituted bans and fees on various types of plastics; 17 states have banned the plastics ban, making it illegal to ban plastics. If there is a genuine intention from politicians and communities to improve single-use plastic pollution, when do communities and legislation start to step up and create strong circular systems and infrastructure?    Do we need more control and drastic legislation or should politics take a different approach? Maybe the plastic straw isn’t the bad boy overall…

The U.S. government’s latest move to phase out single-use plastics is a pivotal milestone in the world’s battle against plastic waste. A unified national approach is key to effectively combatting plastic pollution, as stronger federal guidelines and regulations can prompt a chain reaction – one that empowers corporations and consumers to make more meaningful choices that protect and preserve the planet.   This approach is certainly no easy feat, as stated. There is no one-size-fits-all model for eradicating the manufacture, use and disposal of single-use plastics, but at Tru Earth we believe many small hinges swing big doors. No matter how ‘mundane’ a step may seem – whether that’s cutting consumption of plastic water bottles or swapping out cleaning supplies for more eco-conscious solutions – a culmination of small actions can lead to big change.   A great sign of progress during Plastic Free July®, no less.    #plasticwaste #plasticcrisis #environment #reduceplastics #turnoffthetap

John Richardson's article on plastics use is of great interest https://lnkd.in/ep22FSJU, and includes passages from a recent speech by Jim Fitterling, CEO of Dow, but I particularly want to discuss the data presented on global polymer demand. At a time when the fight against plastic pollution has been transformed into a trendy anti-plastics lobby supported by major funding (and therefore a source of revenue), the data from the ICIS Supply & Demand Database https://lnkd.in/eE2-6aPM what we perceive: the amount of plastic needed is going to increase sharply. And the main reasons are the standard of living of the world's population, which has soared, and I would add a thirst for unbridled over-consumption that is spreading to the entire population. Plastics contribute to this over-consumption, and certainly help it, but are not responsible for it! That's why trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use is naive, unless we address the general problem of our global consumption through a systemic approach based on complex thinking. In short, focusing on plastics alone won't solve our planet's environmental problems - in some cases, we're already seeing the effect of certain policies which, by replacing plastics with other materials, increase greenhouse gas emissions. Let's take a simple example of the famous soft ice cream at Costco Wholesale between California and Quebec. In California, a plastic cup and spoon are used. In Quebec, a cardboard cup that looks plastic-coated with a wooden spoon. In both cases, the cup and spoon end up in the trash, before going to a landfill in the best case scenario. The change in materials in Canada has not been accompanied by different end-of-life arrangements, nor by a change in practices, so I believe that the Canadian alternative today has the effect of producing more GHGs. #plastics #plasticdemand #sustainability

https://lnkd.in/grz4daX already in 2018! 1. Some 18 billion pounds of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year from coastal regions. 2. 40 percent of plastic produced is packaging, used just once and then discarded. 3. Shoppers in the United States use almost one plastic bag per resident per day. (Shoppers in Denmark use an average of four plastic bags a year.) 4. Nearly half of all plastic ever manufactured has been made since 2000. 5. Less than a fifth of all plastic is recycled globally. 6. Nearly a million plastic beverage bottles are sold every minute around the world. In 2015, Americans purchased about 346 bottles per person— 111 billion plastic beverage bottles in all. 7. About 8 percent of the world’s oil production is used to make plastic and power the manufacturing of it. That figure is projected to rise to 20 percent by 2050.

Highlights • To effectively tackle plastic pollution, a global treaty must be binding. • The plastics treaty should acknowledge plastic packaging and chemicals are the primary contributors to pollution. • The plastics treaty should prioritize upstream solutions for packaging. • Effective labelling is needed for bio-based materials to be proposed for plastic packaging. • Transparency regarding chemicals in plastics should be a key element of the instrument. https://lnkd.in/gMDxQAYa

Did you hear the news? The U.S. announced on Friday that it plans to "phase out the use of single-use plastics from all federal operations by 2035, as part of its broader strategy to tackle plastic pollution. The phase-out would start with a goal to end federal procurement of single-use plastics from food service operations, events, and packaging by 2027." Given the purchasing power of the U.S. government, this could be a game changer. The government is responding to growing public demand for action on plastics, and businesses should take note. https://lnkd.in/eW36dkps #PlasticFreeJuly #Sustainability

The article reveals the continued global dominance of single-use plastics due to their convenience, affordability, and ingrained use in daily life, especially in countries with limited alternatives or inadequate infrastructure. Although regulatory efforts to ban or reduce single-use plastics have been initiated in various regions, enforcement is often weak, and local businesses find it challenging to transition to alternatives.

The first step to establishing plastic re-cycling system at an industrial level is to establish a plastics registry https://lnkd.in/gChxjAEG