Despite years of growing awareness, the flow of single-use plastics continues
from and into communities around the world, through waterways, and into our
oceans. An estimated 150 million metric
tons is already in
the ocean. But here is some good news – according to a report released
today by The Pew
Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ, we could quickly cut the volume of plastic
ending up in global oceans by 80 percent using existing technologies.
“If we want to significantly reduce plastic
leakage,
we have the solutions at our fingertips,” Yoni Shiran, Program director at
SYSTEMIQ and one of the authors of the report, told Sustainable
Brands™. “Solutions need to be vastly scaled, better prioritized; and
in some cases, complemented with additional — more effective — solutions.”
The report strongly argues in favor of immediate, strong, coordinated action.
There is no more time to waste. Unfortunately, years of inaction — and
intentional distortion by the plastics
industry
— has created a massive environmental crisis. We’re consuming and producing
more
plastic
than even before, recycling
less,
and allowing far too much to end up in the ocean. And the surge in single-use
plastic due to health concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the
crisis.
While the finger is often pointed at countries in Asia – China,
Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are responsible
for more ocean-bound
plastic
than the rest of the world combined — it is really a global problem. Until the
end of 2017, the United States, Europe and Canada were shipping
their waste plastic to these Asian
countries,
some of which was likely ending up in the ocean, because they couldn’t recycle
it domestically.
Cleaning up beauty's ugly impacts
Join us at SB'24 San Diego as Victor Casale — co-founder of Pact Collective and co-founder and CEO of MOB Beauty — shares insights from ongoing collaborations with materials innovators to create fully compostable, refillable, plastic-free, and easier-to-recycle packaging alternatives for beauty and wellness products.
The new report brought together a diverse range of experts and scientists, with
the goal of proposing an actionable plan for decision-makers to use. It
highlights eight measures that they believe could reduce ocean plastic quickly —
including reducing growth in plastic production, substituting some plastics with
alternatives such as paper and compostable materials, designing products and
packaging for recycling, and more. Brands are a key target of the report.
“The key message for business leaders is that we must significantly increase our
ambition level to deal with this challenge,” Shiran says.
Brands are responsible and have a critically important role to play — due to
their scale and the fact that many are transnational, with large footprints in
the very countries that are key sources of ocean-bound plastic. According to an
audit from
the Break Free From Plastic coalition, plastic packaging products from
Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Mars and other major CPG brands can be found all
around the world.
“Corporations urgently need to do more to address the plastic pollution crisis
they’ve created,” said Von Hernandez, global coordinator of the Break Free
from Plastic movement, in a press statement. “Their continued reliance on
single-use plastic packaging translates to pumping more throwaway plastic into
the environment.”
There is hope, as many of these companies are part of global commitments such as
the Plastic Pollution Coalition, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste
and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics
Economy Global Commitment, all of
which hope to reduce plastic. Thus far, though, these commitments — all
voluntary — do not go far enough.
“Current commitments, while a great first step, are completely insufficient,”
Shiran says. “Most efforts are focused on recyclability and recycling. Not
enough efforts are going towards shifting to new delivery models such as reuse
and refill systems.”
The brands that act now and implement solutions will benefit, Shiran argues.
“Progressive companies who are incorporating the circular economy will have a
big advantage in the system of tomorrow, and those who fail to adapt risk being
priced out of the market,” he says. “We have almost all the plastic production
and conversion capacity that we need to fulfil our needs until 2040. Any
additional investment risks being stranded, and may be creating a ‘plastic
bubble.’”
Delay will only make the problem bigger and clean-up more difficult. If we wait
five years, an additional 80 million metric tons of plastic will end up in the
ocean — which is why the report’s authors are laser-focused on how we can take
action now.
We know the problem; and, increasingly, we know how to solve it. It’s time for
decision-makers, including leading global consumer brands that have been
identified as part of the problem, to start taking the necessary steps to
prevent plastic from ending up in the ocean, now.
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Media, Campaign and Research Consultant
Nithin is a freelance writer who focuses on global economic, and environmental issues with an aim at building channels of communication and collaboration around common challenges.
Published Jul 23, 2020 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST