Consumers, governments, and international organisations are more conscious than ever before about plastic use and consumption; the impacts it is having on our planet and what's in store for our future, should we fail to shift off our current path. With the UNs focus on achieving their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and activists like Greta Thunberg sailing emission-free across the ocean to speak to world leaders about sustainability, it is now impossible to deny the problem that is plastic.
Plastics, the problem we can see
As stated by environmental activist, Greta Thunberg:
“The problem of plastic pollution in the ocean is even worse than anyone feared. There’s actually more microplastic 1,000 feet down than there is in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”
While plastic pollution is undeniably a horrible and enormous problem, at least it is a problem we can see and therefore take action on, unlike CO2, which is largely ignored by it is invisible. If we could see the CO2 polluting our atmosphere, it's hard to imagine consumers and governments would allow more burning of fossil fuels.
We can all see the plastics mounting in our oceans, sidewalks, supermarkets and homes, however, and we know that at the end of its lifetime, a product or packaging is either recycled, incinerated, landfilled, dumped in uncontrolled sites, or littered in the environment.
Of the 400 million tons of plastic produced every year, nearly 50 per cent of plastic waste generated globally, according to a 2015 study, was plastic packaging, and only 9 per cent of it has been recycled.
"In addition to people’s negligence, the large presence of single-use plastics in the environment is symptomatic of poor or failing waste management systems."
Source: United Nations - Single Use Plastics: A Roadmap to Sustainability.
What are businesses doing to reduce the consumption/use of plastic and aid in the circular economy?
Thanks to global awareness and pressure from consumers, large international organisations, those responsible for the majority of our plastic waste, are taking action.
Unilever
Halve use of virgin plastic - reducing the use of plastic packaging by more than 100,000 tonnes and accelerating its use of recycled plastic
Help collect and process more plastic packaging than it sells.
The company will do this through investment and partnerships which improve waste management infrastructure.
Alan Jope, Unilever CEO, said: “Our starting point has to be design, reducing the amount of plastic we use, and then making sure that what we do use increasingly comes from recycled sources. We are also committed to ensuring all our plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable.“
The announcement has been commended by Ellen MacArthur, Founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which works to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. MacArthur urged others to follow the lead of Unilever and highlighted the innovation that the company has achieved in their move to reduce plastics.
As part of their No plastic commitment, Unilever has brought to the market innovations including shampoo bars, refillable toothpaste tablets, cardboard deodorant sticks and bamboo toothbrushes. It has also signed up to the Loop platform, which is exploring new ways of delivering and collecting reusable products from consumers’ homes.
Bringing about the circular economy
Understanding their impacts, major consumer brands including Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Johnson & Johnson, Danone and more, have all pledged to do their part to help create and support the circular economy in the UK.
Coca-Cola
Found to be the most polluting brand by Break Free From Plastic, for the second year in a row, Coca-Cola is taking steps to reduce plastics by creating new bottles that are recycled from plastics that have been washed up from the oceans. An initiative the company claims will cut the use of its virgin plastic by 200,000 tons a year. In addition, they are committed to:
Making their packaging 100% recyclable globally by 2025— and using at least 50% recycled material in their packaging by 2030.
Collecting and recycling a bottle or can for each one sold by 2030.
Pepsico
Another name to make the Break Free From Plastic "most polluting brand" list was Pepsico, and just like Coca-Cola, they are committed to doing something about it, with the company announcing their "circular future for packaging" in which the company plans to reduce 35 per cent of virgin plastic use across its beverage portfolio by 2025. Pepsico aims to achieve this goal by increasing the use of recycled content and alternative packaging materials.
Johnson & Johnson
One of the pioneers of sustainability initiatives, Johnson & Johnson is:
Helping recycling co-operatives in emerging markets to improve their operational processes
Helping to increase consumer recycling of personal care products through its Care To Recycle® program
Founding member of the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council, working to promote and enable viable, safe and cost-effective recycling solutions to reduce the volume of plastics that hospitals send to the landfill.
In 2018 they also signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, committing the company to the use of more recycled materials in packaging, reduce reliance on single-use packages, and ensure that 100 per cent of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable via design, partnerships, and investments by the year 2025.
Danone
Holding ambitions to use 100 per cent bio-based PET in their bottles, Danone is tracking their progress, with the company so far at around 30 per cent, but planning to, by 2021, launch 100 per cent recycled PET bottles in all of their major water markets. By 2025, they aim to reach 25 per cent of recycled material in their plastic packaging.
Beyond plastics, the company is committed to using 100 per cent of paper and board sourced from responsibly managed forests and implementing a "turn waste into resource" plan in 10 countries by 2020.
Fashion Industry
Despite the glitzy facade, the fashion industry has long been under scrutiny for its exploitation of workers and the production of "fast fashion" which has caused a significant rise in textile productions, which is now accountable for emitting 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually -- more than international flights and maritime shipping combined.
Despite this dark side, 2019 has seen significant strides made across the industry with major brands such as Burberry, Gap, H&M, Kering, Levi’s and Inditex, all signing on to a series of industry-wide commitments, with the major objective being a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Other brands have embraced sustainability, making it a centrepiece on the runway and introducing Environmental Profit and Loss (EP&L) to measure their impacts, as Stella McCartney has done.
Creating better solutions for consumers
Arguably, all of the efforts just mentioned could be for naught if consumers fail to be part of the process. Recyclables need to make it to recycling facilities, and if consumers don't play their part, this does not happen.
Companies such as TerraCycle are working to fix this by offering free recycling programmes to environmentally conscious consumers, through the support of brands, manufacturers and retailers. Recycling the "non-recyclable" including coffee capsules, pens, plastic gloves and myriad other items, TerraCycle allows consumers or businesses to play a larger role in aiding the circular economy and eliminating unnecessary waste.
Conclusion
Of course, there is a long way to go, and there are many brands -- we’re looking at you, Amazon -- are still to take the plastic problem seriously, but progress is most definitely being made.
Three key elements that are and will continue to move companies and communities in the right direction include:
Changing the design of products to be more sustainable
Improving waste management systems to support the circular economy
Developing better clean up and remediation activities.
Changes in product design mean that we can use alternative, bio-based or biodegradable materials to reduce and eventually eliminate plastic use. Better waste management systems facilitate larger-scale waste collection and improve recycling rates to stop waste from entering our oceans and reduce the greenhouse gas footprint which virgin plastics current contribute to. Then, finally, cleanup and remediation activities remove the plastics already polluting our natural environment allowing us to undo some of the damage that has been done.
There are some challenges and everyone is needed to solve them
These alternatives, in the beginning, may require more energy and increased transportation. Bio-based or biodegradable plastics can increase the dispersion of microplastic fragments in the environment if degradation is incomplete and increasing waste collection and recycling rates could lead some to focus on the benefits of sticking with plastics.
Challenges considered, these changes address our current adverse environmental side effects. While plastic is not an ideal end solution, its reuse has a much lower greenhouse gas footprint than creating new virgin plastics, incinerating what is not recycled or letting it sit in a landfill.
It remains the role of government, industry, and investors to offer solutions which are more sustainable for consumers -- whether that is in the form of sustainable, alternative packaging, or solutions to help make it easier for consumers to recycle.
As already stated in Strategy, sustainability and the role of the investment community, investors play a major role in future sustainability. By investing in sustainable companies, and not those who are negatively impacting our planet, the investment community has perhaps the largest influence to shift the priorities of organisations to be sustainability-focused.
Do you need our help?
Brite is a consulting firm supporting businesses in the areas of strategy, marketing and sustainability because we believe these three elements cannot be seen separately. We help businesses define and clarify:
What they sell
How they drive value for their clients, society and the environment (shared value).
How they do it
Their operations and how they align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
What they say
Their marketing and communication strategy, and how they engage with different stakeholders.
Contact Us at info@britetrend.com and visit our website.