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Plastics

Six years in, Plastics Pacts are a proven model for tackling plastic pollution.

Thanks to Plastics Pacts, tens of billions of problematic or unnecessary plastic items have been eliminated; design for reusability, recyclability, and composability in practice and at scale has increased by 23%; and incorporation of recycled content back into packaging has increased by 44%.

Today, there are a dozen Plastics Pacts in countries representing over 2 billion people and spread across all continents, forming a global network with a proven track record of delivering real impact towards eliminating plastic waste and pollution.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with WRAP, is excited to present our new report titled "Scaling Impact: The Plastics Pact Network’s Six-Year Journey Towards Eliminating Plastic Pollution and Waste." This report shares the impact and lessons learnt from the past 6 years of the Plastics Pact Network and highlights their ongoing role in driving local, collaborative action around the world, informing and complementing national policy and a Global Plastics Treaty.

The full report and a detailed case study annexe are now available to download.

Here's what we've learned:

  1. Plastics Pacts are well-established platforms for collaboration, evidence-based knowledge creation, as well as sharing and creating transparency. Our model has yielded tangible results on the ground, fostering a robust network of stakeholders committed to accountable action at national, regional, and global levels.

  2. The Plastics Pact Network is demonstrating the swift and impressive impact that can be achieved through collaborative voluntary action, but this is not enough. The learnings so far reinforce the need for additional, and more ambitious, binding policy measures, as well as accelerated voluntary business action. This cannot be an either/or: both are crucial to tackling plastic waste and pollution at the pace and scale required.

  3. The Plastics Pacts are uniquely placed to inform and support in implementing a future Global Plastics Treaty at national level. The Plastics Pact Network offers a proven means of engaging stakeholders in the plastics value chain, and helping them to make the changes that are needed, at pace.

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Full report

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Scaling Impact case studies

Elimination of problematic plastics – Poland

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The Polish Pact developed a list of 17 items classified as problematic and unnecessary, in collaboration with its members and waste management experts, ensuring national relevance. Pact retail members have implemented this list in their work.

Tackling complex challenges (flexibles) – India

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In India, items such as single-use sachets are used in large volumes and are especially difficult to collect and recycle. The Indian Pact has developed solutions for small-format flexibles and is currently developing a roadmap to address films and flexibles.

Scaling-up reuse and refill models – ANZPAC (Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands)

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The ANZPAC provides its members market insights, collaboration and peer to peer learning opportunities to accelerate reuse. Its reuse working group has run a study on enablers and success factors for reuse to support the development of collaborative projects.

Empowering the voice of the informal waste sector – South Africa

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The South African Pact works with the African Reclaimers’ Organisation (ARO), representing up to 150,000 informal plastic waste workers. The Pact’s 2030 targets include a focus on designing people and livelihoods into a circular economy for plastic packaging.

Sending the right signals to the market – US

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The US Pact has developed a strategy to increase the incorporation of Post-consumer Recycled Content (PCR) back into packaging. The Pact has developed a PCR procurement toolkit and nearly all packaging users have made public commitments to use PCR.

Informing policy to drive circularity – Chile

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The Chilean Pact has made presentations at the senate on various occasions, providing evidence related to the law on single-use plastic now being implemented, and showing what is possible in terms of the elimination, reuse and recycling of regulated items.

Explore more case studies

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While this progress is significant, some challenges are systemic and require the broader scope of a Global Plastics Treaty to address effectively. The briefing for policymakers contains a summary of our policy recommendations.

Read the Policymaker BriefingExternal link

Downloads

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Scaling Impact: The Plastics Pact Network’s Six-Year Journey Towards Eliminating Plastic Pollution and Waste

  • Plastics

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