Plastics

• [New] If governments fail to take effective action to reduce the use of single and non-recyclable plastic, yearly movement of plastic into the ocean will triple by 2040.
• The export ban will mean that Australia must recycle an additional 645,000 tonnes of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres onshore by 2024.
• Since Iceland made its commitment to eliminate all plastic packaging from its own label products by the end of 2023, it has made significant progress in reducing the plastic it uses.
• Under the newly-unveiled list of single-use plastics being banned in Canada, plastic grocery bags, straws, stir sticks, six-pack rings, cutlery and food containers made from hard-to-recycle plastics will be out of use nationwide by the end of 2021.
• New Zealand could be sending nearly 9000 tonnes of plastic into the environment each year by 2030 - and that does not include the containers of waste we are shipping overseas.
• Demand for virgin plastics may peak in 2027, and global oil demand may already have peaked.
• To reduce use of virgin petroleum plastic in packaging by 50% by 2030, which it estimates will remove over 300,000 tonnes of virgin plastic.
• Plastics recycling is undoubtedly a trend that will continue as many global majors have committed to using recycled plastics in their various packaging applications.
• Unilever has made commitments to halve the use of virgin plastic in packaging, and to collect and process more plastic packaging than sold by 2025.
• The European Commission's plastics strategy, adopted in 2018, included an update of its 1994 Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and doubled the EU's recycling target to 50% by 2025 with a goal of 55% by 2030.
• Move forward with the Canada-wide strategy on zero plastic waste: Canada should proceed with implementing its existing strategy and legislation on plastic waste reduction, including a ban on harmful single-use plastic items by 2021.
• So far companies still appear on track to meet a voluntary goal set by the EU to use 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics in new products by 2025.
• Plastics Pact will drive collaborative action and deliver a significant system change toward a circular economy for plastic, enabling companies and governments in the U.S. to collectively meet impactful goals by 2025 that they could not otherwise meet on their own.
• The Irish government's Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy plans to introduce a levy on disposable cups, introduce a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans, and halve food waste by 2030.
• Mounting pressure to curtail the use of plastics - now a worldwide public concern - could slash virgin plastic demand growth from 4% a year to under 1%, with demand peaking in 2027.
• If trends continue without improvements in the way we manage plastic waste, we could be spewing as much as 90 million tonnes of plastic waste into the world's waters by 2030.
• In recent years plastic production has accelerated, with global plastic set production to reach 600 million tonnes by 2030 if production continues at its current rate of growth.
• The International Energy Agency forecast in 2018 that the growth in demand for petrochemical products - including plastics, fertilisers, detergents and other items - would see them account for over a third of the predicted increase in oil demand to 2030, and nearly half to 2050.
• Corporations that sell soft drinks and bottled water have committed to stop using single-use plastics by 2030.
• Mounting pressure around the world to tackle the plastics problem could slash the growth in demand for virgin plastic from 4% a year to just 1%, with demand likely to peak in 2027.
• Mounting pressure to cut plastic use could slash growth in demand for virgin plastic from four percent a year to below one percent, with demand peaking in 2027.
• While the system change scenario reduces annual ocean plastic pollution rates by more than 80%, it will take an unprecedented level of action and will still leave more than five million metric tons leaking into the ocean each year in 2040.
• The Pact's ambition to create a new circular economy for plastics is crucial, given that recent Foundation-backed research warned that the volume of plastic entering oceans and waterways will triple and the global ocean plastic stock will quadruple by 2040.

Last updated: 22 November 2020