Circularity has finally hit the mainstream

Nestle, Mars, Danone and Clorox join Loop to test reusable packaging

This article is by EDF+Business Project Manager Theresa Eberhardt.

Having lived and traveled in Southeast Asia for a number of years, I have seen and experienced the negative impacts of plastic pollution firsthand. I can’t count the number of times I’ve visited some of the world’s most breathtaking remote locations and couldn’t stop staring at the plastic everywhere.

Meanwhile the public outcry over plastics has reached a tipping point. Photos of turtles with straws through their nostrils and birds with stomachs full of plastics have struck a chord with consumers across the planet.

To be a true leader in the space of plastics and packaging, companies need to be thinking about the full impact of plastic in their own supply chains, and how to work with governments to address waste leakage issues in key geographies.

Consider the true cost of plastics. Companies need to fully understand the impact of plastic packaging within their own supply chains. To do this, companies should consider the risk profiles of the types of plastics they use, as well as the end-of-life assumptions they used in materiality assessments. The majority of existing materiality assessments for a product’s end-of-life scenarios assume complete waste management systems, ignoring the reality of waste leakage from plastics. Companies should address the assumptions made in these assessments, and explore ways to better understand the true cost and environmental impact of plastic packaging.

The main driver of the petrochemical industry’s growing climate footprint will be plastics. Petrochemicals are set to account for over a third of the growth in oil demand to 2030, and nearly half to 2050, even ahead of trucks, airplanes and shipping.

If 2018 was the year of plastics, I’m hoping companies make 2019 the year of circularity.

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