Image by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash
Image by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash

EXPERT REACTION: Corporate pledges to address plastic pollution aren't reducing plastic production

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

72% of the top 300 Fortune 500 companies have made a commitment to reducing plastic pollution, but the vast majority are focussing on increasing the amount of recycled or recyclable content in their products, rather than reducing plastic production in the first place. Authors of the study say it's not good enough, given that only 9% of plastics are recycled worldwide. Multiple companies have reduced the amount of plastic in individual products such as bottles and bags, but the simultaneous increase in the amount of products produced meant there was no net reduction in plastic production.

Journal/conference: One Earth

Link to research (DOI): 10.1016/j.oneear.2022.10.008 ll

Organisation/s: Duke University

Funder: This study was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The authors declare no competing interests.

Media release

From: Cell Press

Corporate pledges to recycle or reduce plastics aren't translating into less plastic use

Plastic pollution is overwhelming landfills, littering Earth’s coastlines, and affecting the health of animals, including humans, while also contributing to environmental degradation and climate change. As public expectations for corporate responsibility grow and an increasing number of businesses pledge to reduce plastic use, researchers publishing in the journal One Earth on November 18 detail how the world’s largest and most powerful companies’ focus on recycling rather than virgin plastic reduction makes their commitments less meaningful.

The study focused on the top 300 Fortune 500 companies and found that 72% had made a commitment to reducing plastic pollution. “Most of the commitments emphasize plastic recycling and commonly target general plastics,” write the authors, led by Zoie Taylor Diana, an environmental researcher at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. “They are important, but partial, solutions if we are to comprehensively address the plastic pollution problem.”

“Between 1950 and 2017, plastics production increased 174-fold and is forecast to double again by 2040,” the authors write. “As of 2015, an estimated 79% of global plastic waste was in landfills or ended up in the natural environment, 12% was incinerated, and 9% was recycled. Plastics in the environment have negative repercussions at all levels of biological organization.”

The paper highlights the companies’ overwhelming focus on changing their consumption and production patterns, often by including more recycled content in their products and “lightweighting”—the practice of marginally reducing the volume of plastic used to package a particular product.

“From our literature review, we found that multiple companies, such as the Coca-Cola Company and Walmart, are producing lighter and smaller plastic products (e.g., bottles and bags),” write the authors. “This ‘lightweighting’ of plastic is considered an insufficient response because companies may reinvest this savings into markets that involve new plastic products and/or increase the total mass of plastic produced.” Because the number of plastic products increases each year, the use of this practice does not result in a net reduction of plastic.

Going forward, the authors say that the scientific community should continue to monitor the plastic practices of major companies and the effects that plastics are having on the planet. “Scientists (including natural, life, and social scientists) have an important role in monitoring and defining environmental issues, which may aid in holding companies accountable.”

Expert Reaction

These comments have been collated by the Science Media Centre to provide a variety of expert perspectives on this issue. Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. Views expressed are the personal opinions of the experts named. They do not represent the views of the SMC or any other organisation unless specifically stated.

Dr Jeff Seadon, Senior Lecturer, School of Future Environments, Auckland University of Technology, comments:

About 60% of the plastic resin imported into NZ is used to make packaging. Large multi-nationals in NZ, such as those named in the report, have followed head office by activities such as lightweighting packaging and changing to recyclable plastics.

An example of this shift has been the move from disposable expanded polystyrene meat trays to fully recyclable PET (No 1) trays. The government subsidised the machinery needed to convert old trays into new ones, thus completing the loop. This is the future of the plastics economy.

In NZ the government focus has been on litter removal through banning six categories of plastics (single use plastic stirrers, single use plastic cotton buds, degradable plastics, some PVC food trays and containers, polystyrene and expanded polystyrene food and beverage packaging). The need now is to close the loop on all plastics so that once they are marketed in NZ they can be reused or recycled indefinitely.
 

Last updated: 17 Nov 2022 1:30pm
Declared conflicts of interest:
None.
Associate Professor Bodo Lang, Lecturer in Social and Sustainable Marketing. University of Auckland Business School, comments:

Our love affair with plastic has created a number of crises. First, discarded plastic can lead to plastic pollution. This pollution can be harmful for the environment, for animals and for human health by, for example, inhaling microplastics. The second main issue is linked to the production of plastic, which is resource intensive and requires the use of various materials, often ‘virgin material’. The extraction of these materials and the production of plastics is a strain on the world’s resources.
 
There are four learnings from the article. First, it is a natural reaction for businesses to help solve the current plastic crisis. Businesses want to be part of the solution, particularly when they are part of the problem.
 
Second, it is logical for businesses to start reducing plastic where it is easiest. For example, increasing the recycled content of plastic and particularly reducing plastic in their products and packaging are obvious first steps to take.
 
Third, more powerful ideas to reduce plastic tend to be more difficult and/or more costly to implement. For example, making products that last longer can significantly reduce the use of plastic. However, it is difficult to shift consumers from “buy cheap” to “buy well”. This is because price at the till is easily understood, while the environmental cost of a product is 1) difficult to calculate, 2) uncertain, and 3) not directly borne by consumers.
 
Fourth, truly game-changing ideas, such as transitioning from a linear economy to a circular economy, have much potential but are far more complex, costly and time intensive. Purchasing items and discarding them when they are no longer needed is our dominant consumption paradigm at present. Having a circular approach, which requires different business models, often enabled by legislation, is far less common despite its potential to significantly reduce plastic waste. For example, in 2020 less than 9% of the global economy was considered circular.
 
Businesses have started the journey towards reducing plastic at the easiest points (recycling and reduction). After these starting points, we will see an increasing shift towards potentially more powerful initiatives, such as maintaining products for longer and leasing products rather than purchasing them.
 
New Zealand has a unique opportunity. Our global reputation for being “clean and green”, the small size of our economy, and the distance to other markets means that it is particularly worthwhile - and possible - for us to be innovators in reducing plastic pollution. This particularly applies to products produced in New Zealand.
 

Last updated: 17 Nov 2022 1:26pm
Declared conflicts of interest:
None.

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