New Plastics Economy Report Highlights Production Data, Sets Ambitious Goals

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has announced publication of new report, as part of its New Plastics Economy initiative. The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment Spring 2019 Report discloses amount of plastic products produced by international businesses including Coca-Cola, Carrefour, Colgate Palmolive, MARS, Nestlé, SC Johnson and Unilever.

According to the report, Coca Cola produced 3 million tonnes of plastic in 2017. Nestle produced 1.7 million tonnes of plastic, whereas Unilever reported 610,000 tonnes of plastic production.

The report highlighted that consumer goods companies and retailers are likely to increase recycled content in their packaging to an average of 25% by 2025. This compares with the current global average of just 2%. Also, many leading businesses and governments are likely to end the use of problematic and unnecessary plastic by the end of this year. In addition, nearly 40 brands and retailers are involved in either piloting or expanding reuse or refill schemes, the report said.

Lisa Svensson, UN Environment co-ordinator of the marine and coastal ecosystems branch stated that there has been notable progress just within a few months of the launch of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. Meantime, New Plastics Economy lead Sander Defruyt said that the targets and action plans set out in the report are a significant step forward, but are still far from addressing the scale of the problem.