On December 18, U.S. Plastics Pact (U.S. Plastics Pact) released its 2023-2024 Impact Report, which highlights significant advances in the circular economy for plastics, while calling for greater collaboration across industries, governments, and consumers, and emphasizing the importance of unifying federal action, public-private partnerships, and the urgency of individual responsibility in addressing the complexities of plastics sustainability.
1. Progress in three areas
The report demonstrates the progress made by the Pact organization in three areas that are changing the way plastics are designed, used and reused.
Elimination of problematic plastics: 22% of members do not sell any of the items on the list of problematic and unnecessary materials, and progress is expected to continue through 2025.
Advanced design for recycling: adoption of sustainable packaging increases from 36% in 2021 to 50% as recyclability increases.
Increasing recycled content: Its members have also increased the recycled content of packaging to 11%, moving towards a target of 30% by 2025.
The report says these achievements are in line with its 2025 goals and its recently launched Roadmap 2.0, which extends some goals to 2030 and prioritizes scalable reuse systems, elimination of virgin plastics, and advanced recycling infrastructure.
2. Innovation for change
The organization says members are providing solutions throughout the supply chain:
Convention Collective: is addressing the difficult-to-recycle packaging and plastic waste in the beauty industry with the launch of NewMatter resin, a 100% recyclable material that promotes a scalable, closed-loop system.
Eastman: Molecular recycling is underway with the opening of what is claimed to be the world's largest facility of its kind in Tennessee, reducing emissions and diverting hard-to-recycle plastics from landfills.
Trioworld: has launched 49ga Axis Loop film, a thinner, high-performance machine stretchable film with 30% recycled content that reduces plastic use by 40% and halves carbon emissions.
Kraft Heinz: has converted its Crystal Light packaging from plastic to recyclable cardboard, reducing 3 million pounds of plastic annually and moving toward a goal of reducing virgin plastic use by 20% by 2030.
3. Need for guidance from the federal government
It calls for a coherent national policy to advance recycling, including standardized recycling definitions, extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs and updated recycling data. The agreement says that federal action is critical to expanding the infrastructure needed to achieve its goals.
Jonathan Quinn, CEO of Pact, said, “We can't manage what we don't measure. Businesses and governments need clear, consistent data and coherent policies to guide investment and innovation. Federal leadership is critical to realizing a circular economy for plastics.”
4. Call for shared responsibility
While noting that regulatory action is essential, the report says that collective responsibility and “bold action” are also needed to realize a circular economy:
Individual responsibility: Consumers play a vital role in making sustainable choices, such as recycling and supporting reusable packaging systems.
Public-Private Partnerships: Collaboration between government and business is critical to drive economically efficient innovation and infrastructure investment.
U.S. competitiveness: Sustainability leadership positions the United States as a global innovator while mitigating the risks associated with climate change and resource dependence.
About the U.S. Plastics Convention
The U.S. Plastics Pact U.S. Plastics Pact is an international collaborative effort to promote a circular economy for plastics, launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's New Plastics Economy Initiative. Launched in August 2020, the convention is the first plastics convention in North America, with Canada following in 2021, and currently has 130 members.
The Convention establishes four targets, including ensuring that, by 2025, the average proportion of recycled content or bio-based content from reliable sources in plastic packaging reaches 30 per cent. Eliminating 11 products and materials that cannot be “reused, recycled or composted”, such as PS (polystyrene) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride).
