“Once-in-a-generation opportunity”: Ellen MacArthur Foundation urges global policy action ahead of INC-5

Over 1,000 organizations globally, including businesses representing 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally and over 50 government signatories, have mobilized behind the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Commitment 2024 annual progress report’s common vision of a circular plastics economy.

The signatories have set 2025 targets to help realize that common vision. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s sixth annual progress report looks at how the signatories plan to establish these targets and key lessons learned. 

The report’s main insights are that the collective ambition of the Global Commitment signatories has driven substantial progress but that “the job is far from done.”

Plastic pollution is still growing and demands bold action, stresses the foundation. “The road ahead is clear: Binding global policy and accelerated business action are essential to get the job done.”

Since the launch of the Global Commitment in 2018,  signatories reduced their virgin plastic use by 3% versus the rest of the market.We sit down with Aisha Stenning, the lead for business action in the foundation’s Plastics Initiative, to discuss the signatories’ main progress areas and remaining challenges for installing a circular plastics economy. We also talk about the unique opportunity the UN Global Plastics Treaty offers to establish global plastic reduction targets. 

What are the signatories’ main achievements over the past year?
Stenning: The Global Commitment is the biggest voluntary movement of its kind. Backed by over 1,000 organizations, it has shown that it is possible to make substantial progress in the fight against plastic waste and pollution. 

The annual progress report has demonstrated that signatories continue to outperform their peers in tackling plastic waste and pollution since the commitment was launched. In this time, signatories have avoided 9.6 million metric tons of virgin plastic, the equivalent of one trillion single-use plastic bags. 

Since the launch of the Global Commitment in 2018, brand and retail signatories have reduced their virgin plastic use by 3% versus the rest of the market, which saw an 8% increase in the same timeframe. 

Members of the commitment have also increased their use of post-consumer recycled (PCR) for the sixth year. Brand and retail signatories almost tripled the share of PCR in 2023 to 14%.

Where do you see business and government signatories struggling to achieve targets?
Stenning: Despite making substantial progress against ambitious 2025 targets, signatories remain unlikely to meet all the goals. Additionally, the world remains off-track in the fight to eliminate plastic waste and pollution. 

Three pivotal hurdles stand in the way of further progress: scaling reuse, flexible plastic packaging in high-leakage countries and lack of infrastructure to collect and circulate packaging.

The Global Commitment has shown demonstrable progress, highlighted roadblocks and challenges faced by organizations, and brought unprecedented transparency and accountability. However, it has also demonstrated that we now need an ambitious, legally binding instrument alongside business-led action. Both are crucial in the fight against plastic pollution. 

Global policy will create the conditions to help those leading the market overcome the key barriers to meeting their targets while simultaneously moving toward industry-wide participation, ultimately allowing proven solutions to scale much more quickly. 

The international treaty on plastic pollution currently being negotiated represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity in this fight against plastic waste and pollution. If done correctly and ambitious global rules are put in place in addition to improved infrastructure and the promotion of business models such as reuse and refill, we may realize the opportunity to address plastic pollution on a global level. 

What are the challenges for businesses to shift away from flexible packaging? MacArthur calls for businesses to explore alternative solutions for flexible packaging as there is now more single-use plastic in the market than ever before.
Stenning: There is now more single-use plastic in the market than ever before, and GHG emissions driven by plastic production are projected to more than double by 2060. It is clear that urgent action is needed to bring the world back on track in the fight against plastic pollution. 

Businesses should continue exploring alternative solutions for flexible packaging in high-leakage markets, innovate where viable alternative solutions do not yet exist and partner with governments and other stakeholders to ensure the flexible packaging that is still used is collected and circulated.

In addition to business-led action, there must also be support through government action. Policymakers have the ability to directly impact the major roadblocks faced by businesses by providing direction and clarity over which alternative solutions will be incentivized. They can create the conditions for major investments in solutions to flexible packaging.

Do you think INC-5 stands a realistic chance to bind industries and governments to significant plastic reduction targets?
Stenning: The process to secure a global treaty to tackle plastic waste and pollution is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a meaningful impact against one of the planet’s biggest challenges. 

As the process is drawing to a close, nothing is agreed and governments have significant work to do in order to agree on an ambitious, meaningful treaty. 

There remains a division between those who wish to prioritize improvements in recycling and waste management and those who believe that meaningful impact will be achieved through promoting upstream measures such as restrictions and phase-outs of problematic plastic products, product design and EPR schemes. 

INC-5 is a crucial moment in the treaty process, and we implore governments to find a path forward and deliver an ambitious treaty with real bite. It may prove that not everything can be finalized at this last INC in Busan, Republic of Korea, so we would also like to see negotiations commit to establishing structures to strengthen and improve the treaty over time.