WWF ReSource members slash “problematic plastic” in half but recyclate runs dry

09 Dec 2021 --- Major retailers and FMCG companies part of WWF’s ReSource:Plastic initiative cut their use of “problematic plastic” by 57% between 2018-2020, a new report by the wildlife conservation NGO reveals. 

Despite this seeming progress, the report’s findings also highlight a lack of available recyclate and an urgent need for improved Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, and a global treaty on plastic pollution. 

Titled Transparent 2021, the report is WWF’s second annual update on how members of its initiative – including McDonald’s, Keurig Dr Pepper, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, and Coca-Cola – are faring in reducing plastic by polymer type, incorporating recycled content into their products, increasing bio-based materials and improving waste management pathways. 

PackagingInsights recently spoke with Paula Chin, WWF’s sustainable materials specialist, who underscored the need for reusable packaging systems. The report also highlights how ReSource members have made progress promoting reusable models and emphasizes the continued importance of pursuing these models over the next decade. 

100 companies could cut 50 million metric tons of waste by 2030 if the right action is taken, say WWF.Transparent 2021 
Key findings in the report indicate ReSource:Plastic’s eight member companies used the following amount of plastic in 2020: 

• Amcor: 2.36 million metric tons 
• Colgate-Palmolive: 289,000 metric tons 
• Keurig Dr. Pepper: 230,000 metric tons
• KimberlyClark: 106,000 metric tons
• McDonald’s: 156,000 metric tons
• Procter & Gamble: 609,000 metric tons
• Starbucks: 121,000 metric tons
• Coca-Cola: 3.05 million metric tons

WWF says the progress made by its members should act as inspiration across respective sectors and supply chains and that as few as 100 companies have the potential to prevent roughly 50 million metric tons of plastic waste by 2030 if corrective action is taken. 

Call to action 
WWF’s ReSource Footprint Tracker, which measures and tracks corporate action against plastic waste, identifies four waste management pathways for consumer-facing plastic packaging: recycled, landfilled, incinerated and mismanaged. Based on the results, WWF then identified concrete calls to action for its members, and broader recommendations for the private sector and other stakeholders to address global plastic pollution: 

• Eliminating unnecessary plastic through business model innovation, reduction, and substitution. 
• For necessary plastic, shifting from virgin plastic sourcing to environmentally sustainable inputs, including recycled content, responsibly sourced bio-based content, and advanced materials.
• Doubling global collection, recycling, and composting of plastic, ensuring the plastic going into the system is circulated back. 

Recycling to reuse 
A central point made in the report is the need to switch from recycling systems to reuse models. This consideration is partly due to a critical lack of available recyclate for companies to incorporate into their products.Switching to reusable models should be prioritized, argues the report.

Among ReSource’s five principal members, recycled content increased from 7.8% to 9.7% from 2018 to 2020. WWF says this is “encouraging progress,” but it also underscores the continued difficulty of sourcing recycled content, as even with this increase, all members are still far from reaching their sustainable input goals. 

System-wide progress on this issue has been slow despite concentrated efforts on specific materials and key markets. 

Paula China, WWF’s sustainable materials specialist, emphasizes that switching away from recycling and replacing plastics with other materials is not the answer to improving environmental sustainability in packaging. 

“In recent years, industry has rightly been very focused on plastic pollution, but there’s been a lot of switching to different materials as businesses move away from plastics. In the long run, this could lead to worse environmental and social impacts as impacts shift to other supply chains,” she says. 

By Louis Gore-Langton