Plastics

• [New] By 2050, an estimated 12 billion tonnes of plastic waste will be sitting in landfills or polluting the natural environment.
• [New] The total weight of plastics produced per year currently stands at more than 380 million tonnes and is set to top 900 million tonnes by 2050.
• [New] Announcing approximately 84% of packaging materials by volume were renewable, recyclable or compostable: To combat the growing issue of waste from plastic packaging, Conagra made progress on its goal to make 100% of its current plastic packaging renewable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
• [New] Will produce chemicals from recycled waste, known as circular chemicals, and by 2025 aim to annually process 1 million tonnes a year of plastic waste.
• [New] Another example of consumer demand influencing the development of recycled products is Mars, Inc., which recently announced it will incorporate recycled polypropylene plastic into its packaging for some of its pet food brands in order to reduce virgin plastic use across its packaging portfolio.
• [New] Waste streams like single-use plastics will need to be eliminated to restore the world's oceans.
• The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released a research paper that finds trade in plastics is immense, and offers an opportunity to reduce plastic pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through more effective trade policy.
• Ahold Delhaize USA, too, will seek to reduce overall use of problematic single-use plastics by 2025, including making private-label products 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable and increasing recycled content by 25% by 2025.
• Investments in new processes, such as APK's solvent-based Newcycling, will be essential in enabling production of purer recyclate grades on an industrial scale and opening up new, high-quality product segments by 2025 and 2030.
• While moving to recycled content will help reduce the need for producing some new fossil fuel plastic, it is not enough to meaningfully curtail the cycle of plastic production and pollution.
• The new sip-sized Coca-Cola bottles will launch initially in the USA in an all-new, 13.2 oz bottle made from 100% recycled material - conveniently sized in a more sippable package while reducing use of new plastic.
• The estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic entering the oceans every year pose one of the greatest modern-day threats to the health of global marine ecosystems.
• By 2030, emissions from plastic production could reach 1.34 gigatons per year-equivalent to the emissions released by more than 295 new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants - if plastic production and use grow as currently planned.
• Now more than ever, we need to rethink the use of plastic, given that trends indicate that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish (by weight) by 2050.
• The need to address plastics pollution is dire, according to new research from the Pew Charitable Trusts that found the amount of plastic flowing into the ocean each year will triple - to 29 million tons - unless drastic action is taken.
• A US strategy focused solely on recycling would still result in 18 million metric tons of plastic flowing into the ocean each year by 2040 at the cost of $140 billion more than business as usual between 2021 and 2040.
• Threat of plastic pollution to seabirds is global, pervasive, and increasing.
• The use of more sustainable materials is part of Google's commitment to include recycled or renewable materials in at least 50% of plastic used in its products launching from 2025.
• United Kingdom Research & Innovation has announced it will allocate £24 million to firms with innovative ideas that can help reduce the amount of plastic waste in the UK by 2025.
• Last year, Nestle also announced that its European business would follow in the footsteps of its UK operations by signing up to the European Plastics Pact to help achieve its goals of ensuring packaging is 100% reusable or recyclable by 2025.
• By the year 2050, there will be more plastic waste than fish in oceans by total weight, with the annual production of plastic materials reaching more than 1.1 billion tons.
• If the production and use of plastics continue to increase as projected, the plastic industry will account for 20% of global oil use by 2050, an increase from today's 7%.

Last updated: 21 February 2021