The Global Commitment 2022
The Global Commitment progress report outlines how business and government signatories have...
A circular economy for plastic
The circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. considers every stage of a product’s journey – before and after it reaches the customer. This approach is not only vital to stop plastic pollution, it also offers strong economic, social, and climate benefits. By 2040 a circular economy has the potential to:
reduce the annual volume of plastics entering our oceans by 80%
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%
generate savings of USD 200 bn per year
create 700,000 net additional jobs
The circular economy considers every stage of a product’s journey – before and after it reaches the customer.
To create a circular economy for plastic we must take three actions:
Eliminate
Eliminate all problematic and unnecessary plastic items
Innovate
Innovate to ensure that the plastics we do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
Circulate
Circulate all the plastic items we use to keep them in the economy and out of the environment
From voluntary agreements to a global treaty
Through the Global Commitment and Plastics Pact Network more than 1,000 organisations, including businesses and governments, have united behind this vision and 2025 targets for a circular economy for plastic.
Run in collaboration with a broad group of leading companies, cities, philanthropists, policymakers, academics, students, NGOs, and citizens, we've brought together key stakeholders to rethink and redesign the future of plastics, starting with packaging.
These initiatives have laid the foundations for wide-reaching voluntary co-operation, but we need to go further. We need an international, binding approach to amplify current efforts and level the playing field, to deliver industry-scale change and end plastic pollution.
