Ellen MacArthur Foundation pushes for systemic plastics recyclingthe : New Plastics Economy, led by the Foundation with partners from the polymers and chemicals industry, supermarkets, the food industry and the waste sector, proposes a new approach to transform global plastics flows towards a circular economy.
Losses of plastics which are not recycled are estimated at around 100 billion USD/year globally, and environmental impacts of these losses (externalities) at 40 billion. The project centres on packaging plastics, as the biggest potential, but also underlines the need to avoid substances with environment or health concerns which can then pose issues in recycled plastics. Foundation proposes a global plastics protocol, to redesign products, packaging and systems to facilitate collection and recycling and also reuse, for example avoiding multi-material packaging.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, New Plastics Economy https://newplasticseconomy.org/