If you keep up with news in the plastic industry, you may have heard of the U.S. Plastics Pact at some point over the past two years. If not, it’s an effort worth paying attention to. The pact was launched in Aug. 2020 and has garnered the support of some of the world’s largest retail brands, among many others.
Those involved with the pact have some ambitious near-term goals that build toward creating less waste and more innovation in the world of plastic goods. Here are some things to know about the U.S. Plastics Pact:
What Is It?
The U.S. Plastics Pact is essentially a consortium of stakeholders in the future of the plastic industry. It’s made up of businesses (from small local firms to global retail brands), government agencies, research institutions, and non-profits. The pact was founded by The Recycling Partnership and the World Wildlife Federation as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastic Pact Network. The United States is one of many countries that has such pact, including the entirety of Europe, Australia, Canada, and a handful of other countries.
What are the Goals of the Pact?
The overarching goal is to create a circular economy for plastics by eliminating harmful ones, ensuring that the ones we do use are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and also keeping plastic items we use in the economy and out of the environment.
To reach that goal, the pact has a series of smaller goals that it wants to hit by 2025. For starters, they want to eliminate the use of “problematic” plastic packaging such as ones that contain PVC, PFAS, and PS. Additional goals include making 100% of plastic packaging reusable, recyclable, or compostable, achieving an average of 30% of recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging, and undertaking actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging all by 2025.
Why The Collaboration?
The theory behind the large-scale collaboration is that by bringing together all the stakeholders, businesses and governments in the United States will be able to meet targets that they would not have been able to meet on their own.
Here at Piper Plastics, we’re committed to the environment, which is why we responsibly store all materials, keeping them away from the environment. To learn more, read our environmental policy or contact us.
