Essay on Creating a Circular economy for plastic Waste: Role Of Citizens
Answers
Creating a Circular Economy for Plastic Waste
"Society needs to stop thinking of plastic as ‘waste,’ but as a renewable resource that needs to be disposed of correctly."
A circular economy is restorative and regenerative by design. This means materials constantly flow around a ‘closed loop’ system, rather than being used once and then discarded. In the case of plastic, this means simultaneously keeping the value of plastics in the economy, without leakage into the natural environment. But this is easier said than done. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation reported that more than 40 years after the launch of the first universal recycling symbol, just 14% of the plastic packaging used globally is recycled, while 40% ends up in landfill and 32% in ecosystems (with the remaining 14% used for incineration or energy recovery). To move society away from the “take, make, dispose” mindset that has long-informed business models, a fundamental rethink is required. This will involve improving recycling, promoting reuse, creating a market for recycled materials and redesigning products with end of life in mind.
Poorly functioning markets for recycled plastics is one of the biggest barriers facing a circular plastics economy, presenting a challenge to improving global recycling rates. The raw feedstocks for most plastics are fossil fuels, which are currently cheaper to use than recycled materials. As such, the economics of plastic recycling are weak. While we see many companies making bold new commitments and goals for recyclability, few are thinking about their role in creating demand – that is, stimulating end markets for recycled material. To drive demand, companies must commit to using post-consumer resin (PCR) wherever possible. Using PCR will stimulate demand for the materials, creating vital end markets that make the domestic recycling stream viable.
"End-of-life needs to be front of mind throughout product development processes."
Today, producers of plastic and packaging have little or no incentive to consider recycling or reuse when they design products, but end-of-life needs to be front of mind throughout product development processes. Plastics are made from a range of molecular chains called polymers, which perform a wide variety of properties and can be highly customised to meet each manufacturer’s specific requirements. This diversity complicates the recycling process. One solution would be to take note of industry guidelines – including those from WRAP – that advise packaging manufacturers, brand owners and retailers on how to embed recyclability principles into their design processes. Such guidance includes reducing the use of colourants, labels, sleeves and adhesives to simplify the recycling process. In a bid to streamline the market and simplify recycling, Marks & Spencer are assessing the feasibility of making all own-brand plastic packaging from one polymer by 2022 (they have already moved from 11 polymers down to 4 today). In addition, much of the packaging we currently rely on is flexible – including crisp packets and pet food pouches – which are made from multiple materials, adhesives and coatings that cannot be easily separated and recycled. To overcome this, CEFLEX – a consortium of European companies and associations representing the flexible packaging value chain, is working to develop robust design guidelines for both flexible packaging and the infrastructure used to collect, sort and recycle it.
While there is huge progress to be made in all markets, much of the plastic waste currently circulating in the world’s oceans is thought to originate in just five Asian countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. If we want to make a dent in the quantity of plastic released into the oceans, the private sector has a role to play in including these economies in the solutions and investing in waste collection and recycling infrastructure. Last year, Unilever introduced new technology to recycle plastic sachet packaging – commonplace in developing countries and notoriously challenging to dispose of responsibly without a viable recycling solution. The so-called CreaSolv Process Technology enables sachets to be recycled into another generation of sachets, and residue film can be used to create other products, such as plastic pallets. The technology is being piloted in Indonesia, where the company sells more than half of its products in sachets. In parallel, the consumer goods giant is setting up waste collection schemes to collect sachets by working with local waste banks, governments and retailers.
"The exciting opportunity for chemical recycling is that waste plastic can be used to make food-grade PET – not just from plastic bottles, but also waste recovered from oceans and even polyester textiles."