News – Blog
1 July 2021
Since its invention in the early 20th century, plastic as a material has brought massive changes across sectors. From how we package food, build more efficient machinery and infrastructure, to democratising electronics and revolutionising the medical industry. However, with production comes waste, and plastic waste is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. We are all aware of how pervasive it is – the fact that it doesn’t significantly biodegrade, but rather stays in our environment for decades, for centuries, maybe even for millennia. We now also fully appreciate how it changes form and starts to hide in plain sight… as microplastics littered across our landscapes, in our seas and oceans, in our wildlife, and even in our own bodies.
Annually, 381 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated around the world, with an astronomical 165 million tonnes of it simply floating around in our marine environments [1]. With statistics like these becoming ever prominent, conversations about responsibility and action have been growing in volume and intensity. In the UK, the Blue Planet BBC documentary sparked mobilisation at the consumer level around personal accountability and perceptions of individual power to affect change. Whilst at the policy level the UK Government published A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment [2]. In the decade since, the discourse has expanded even further with many other examples showing people are waking up to the impact of plastic waste, as well as their role in reversing said impact. This is resulting in a steady cultural shift towards plastic waste #trending as the ‘matter of the moment’ – transforming something that has so far been viewed as a challenge, into an opportunity.
Scrolling through your Instagram and Facebook feeds, or even channel hopping on your TV, you may be hard pressed to avoid seeing adverts for various products highlighting their inclusion of plastic waste as a material. Everything from swimwear to bags + activewear to car upholstery – big and small brands alike are pushing their plastic waste agenda. The growth of ‘ocean plastics’ as an increasingly common material in sustainable product design is being used as a sales and branding advantage. Some companies have even patented the terms ‘ocean plastics’ and ‘marine plastics’! This commercialization of plastic waste has some interesting implications in positive, but also potentially negative ways.
Livelihoods are one area in which there are some rumblings of positive impact. Initiatives like Plastics for Change are looking to flip the problem of plastic waste on its head, using it as a way to address the socio-economic inequalities that the most marginalised groups in our global society face. With a focus on transforming the value chain, they have created an innovative mobile platform (based on the principles of FairTrade), linking urban waste pickers in developing countries to corporates so they can access fairer market prices.
Another example of livelihood improvement through plastic waste is from a surprising source – chemicals company Dow, who through partnerships with nonprofits in Brazil have implemented the programme Recycling for a Change that is boosting the local waste management value chain for plastic waste. Targeting waste picker cooperatives, the programme provides support around training and development, as well as physical infrastructure and process improvement all through the lens of ‘inclusive recycling’, which emphasises the importance of social impact and the human dimension of waste management.
A cynical view of this particular example takes us to the other end of the scale where the commercialization of plastic waste can be viewed as negative. Claims of greenwash could easily be applied to Dow and similar big companies, but taking things further they could even be accused of covert manipulation; propping up plastic production and reneging on sustainability pledges whilst maintaining a veneer of commitment, all of which ultimately benefits bottom lines rather than social and environmental betterment.
But, that isn’t necessarily the case. We do run the risk, however, of creating a malignant economy that could be incentivized to stay in place. So, how do we avoid creating and reinforcing another systemic problem? How can brands step away from the trend of using plastic waste – or should they? And what about long-term aspirations of reducing plastic production overall?
Thinking about these questions we inevitably move into the headspace of the circular economy. Given the inherent tendency of plastic creating waste, it doesn’t seem like an obvious fit with this concept. However, fundamentally we need to shift plastics in the direction of upstream solutions, aka in the areas of production, infrastructure, processing, and business models. This will help switch plastics from a linear model to a circular one.
This leads us to a transition towards alternative materials to plastic, swapping out all formats for something new, benign, and revolutionary. Significant investment that is actually ring-fenced and applied to this innovation is critical. At the same time we need to improve processing techniques for the plastics that are currently ‘necessary’, making them more effective and efficient with minimal environmental and social impacts. We need to be more intentional about what products are actually ‘necessary’ (read: behaviour change), reducing the scale of this product group in real terms. Across all of this, governments have an active role to play – in setting ambitious targets (and sticking to them!), in developing and implementing legislation, in holding industry accountable, and in continuing to support consumer behaviour change – backing the biggest change programme our world will see. Tangible steps such as these are starting to be facilitated by bodies like the Plastics Pact – a global network of initiatives that convene cross sectoral stakeholders to deliver solutions for a circular economy for plastics. We need more proactive commitments like these to move forward more swiftly. And by creating a circular economy for plastics we can redefine what the commercialization of plastic ‘waste’ can mean, skewing towards the positive impact of this trend.
If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that the seemingly impossible is achievable. A global pandemic has demonstrated the immense capability of our scientific community and broader communities at large; and how much can be realized when there is authentic commitment around a common goal. Beyond COVID, another one of those common goals is to preserve our natural environment and look towards a future where plastic is no longer trash or a trend, but rather a sustainable feature within a circular economy.
Look out for work we are doing in this sector soon.
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