Industry front-runners on marathon towards New Plastics Economy

Supermarket giant calls upon regulators for recycling reform

The UK's supermarket giant Tesco plans to cut on packaging waste and make it closed-loop across the country. What is more, the chain is also calling for the government's support to reform the nation's recycling infrastructure. That is a bold move but a rewarding one. Given the government is going to join hands in putting up the closed-loop infrastructure, an industry-wide rule is expected. However as an early mover Tesco is likely to take the credit and may be seen as a front-runner in the eyes of consumers.

Tesco's pledge entails:

removing,
reducing, and
redesigning

its packaging materials.

As early as by the end of 2019, Tesco is going to remove all packaging which is ‘hard to recycle’ from its own-brand products. By 2025 the retailer aims to halve packaging by weight against the 2007 baseline. Other targets include compostable or recyclable packaging as well as ensuring all paper and cardboard is sourced sustainably.

World's first goal to collect and recycle an equivalent of bottle or can sold

Yet another bold move in tackling the packaging waste issue comes from Coca-Cola. The company has announced the industry-first goal to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells globally by 2030.

In its vision "World without waste" Coca-Cola aspires to help making the world’s packaging problem a thing of the past. That said, other brands, retailers and packaging companies have taken steps towards an emerging trend: New Plastics Economy.

New Plastics Economy

At the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos the Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced that the list of parties that have committed to recycling packaging waste has risen to 11 companies. These include Amcor, Ecover, evian, L’Oréal, Mars, M&S, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, Walmart, and Werner & Mertz, later joined by Nestlé. With the goal towards using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 or earlier, the New Plastics Economy is a sure thing.