US Plastics Pact calls for ‘urgent collective action' on packaging
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US Plastics Pact calls for ‘urgent collective action' on packaging
U.S. Plastics Pact
Quinn
The U.S. Plastics Pact's progress toward greener plastics packaging is showing mixed results, with positive moves around packaging redesign but more modest gains around recycled content use, according to the group's latest report.
The pact, a voluntary effort that says its member companies put one-third of plastic packaging on the U.S. market, pointed to some progress in its Dec. 17 report.
It noted that 50 percent of its members' plastic packaging was reported as being reusable, recyclable or compostable in 2023, up from 36 percent in 2021.
But the report, which covered 2023 data, said pact companies averaged 11 percent recycled or responsibly sourced bio-based content in their plastic packaging, up only modestly from 8 percent in 2021.
That's well off an initial target, set in 2020, of 30 percent by 2025.
The pact, whose members include global brands like Coca-Cola Co., Unilever and Mars, said government policy measures are needed to help boost use of postconsumer recycled content (PCR).
"PCR suitable for packaging materials is usually more expensive than virgin resin," the report said. "Policy is necessary to ensure the long-term, stable demand needed to drive investments to effectively capture and recycle plastic."
In its news release announcing the report, the group called for national policies to standardize recycling definitions, establish frameworks for extended producer responsibility programs and update recycling data.
The pact report said the U.S. plastics packaging recycling rate was 13.3 percent, which it said is unchanged since 2018 because the EPA has not updated its national data.
Overall, the group said its report showed "remarkable progress" for its companies, but it also said the results could, conversely, be seen as an "urgent call for collective action."
Earlier this year, acknowledging the difficulties in meeting its 2025 goals, the pact announced it was extending some of them by five years, to 2030, and adding other targets like reducing virgin plastics use by 30 percent.
The group this year also expanded its list of problematic plastic packaging that its members, or activators as it calls them, would phase out, adding multi-material packaging, foamed PET and degradability additives.
The new report also said the pact would begin to look at "emerging chemicals of concerns" in plastics — a hot topic of debate in the ongoing plastics treaty negotiations — and said its work in upcoming years may "include a more explicitly defined focus on environmental justice."
The progress report said the pact would release additional reports in 2025 in several areas, including addressing challenges to using more recycled content, identifying packaging that could be switched to reusable formats and developing more thorough plans for recycling popular flexible plastic packaging formats.
"Film and flexible plastic packaging continues to be one of the most challenging categories to redesign to reusable, recyclable or compostable formats," the report said.
A 2023 report from the Canada Plastic Pact, for example, said sizable investments would be needed to boost flexible plastic film recycling there from 4 percent to a target of 25 percent.
The new U.S. report also called on the Environmental Protection Agency to devote resources to updating the U.S. national recycling rate, which was last calculated in 2018.
"We cannot manage what we do not measure," said Pact CEO Jonathan Quinn. "Businesses and governments need clear, consistent data and cohesive policies to guide investment and innovation. Federal leadership is essential to achieving a circular economy for plastics."
The pact's report said the EPA's national plastics strategy, released in July, aligns with the pact's work in calling for a national EPR framework, data transparency and improved recycling infrastructure.
* Edit : HANDLER