The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) just released the Global Commitment 2022 Progress Report, which found that companies will miss key 2025 targets for a circular economy for plastic.
The report revealed that the target of achieving 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging by 2025 will ‘almost certainly’ not be met, and reported an overall increase of virgin plastic use back to 2018 levels.
Greenpeace USA Global Plastics Project Leader Graham Forbes says the report clearly shows that voluntary commitments from companies to address plastic pollution have failed.
“Instead of tackling the plastic pollution crisis, big brands like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Mars actually increased the amount of plastic they create since the EMF Global Commitment was launched in 2018.
“The EMF report pours cold water on the celebrated commitments made by big corporations who signed on to this high-profile project to eliminate plastic pollution.
“This underlines the need for governments to ensure that the global plastic treaty, which starts negotiations shortly, delivers major reductions in plastic production and use and accelerates a just transition to the reuse economy we need. Anything less than this is a disservice to our communities and our climate.”
Call on the NZ Government to ban unnecessary single-use plastic bottles* in NZ, and to incentivise reusable and refillable alternatives.