IV. Plastics: If not recycling, what?

We are two steps away from the finishing line of our plastic journey. I hope that by now, you have come to the conclusion that a life in plastic is (not) fantastic. The question then is: Can we live a life without plastic?

Whenever we explore solutions to issues pertaining to sustainability, we have to keep in mind that there will be no one size fits all type of solution. Most likely, it will require multiple alternatives and stakeholders to effectively address the problem.

So, let's get to it! What does the path to a life in no or at least little plastic look like?

The case for a Circular Economy

Based on: “Breaking the Plastic Wave: A Comprehensive Assessment of Pathways Towards Stopping Ocean Plastic Pollution” by The Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ

What is that?

A first-of-its-kind model of the global plastics system that aims to help guide policymakers, industry executives, investors, and civil society leaders through this highly contested, often data-poor, and complex terrain.

What does systemic change look like?

The report proposes 8 complementary systems interventions across the plastic value chain:

1. Reduce the growth of plastic production and consumption by transitioning away from plastics that have a short period of use. How?

Eliminating single-use plastic through innovation: Notpla has created a a 100% vegan seaweed-based alternative to takeaway boxes. Home compostable, recyclable and naturally biodegradable in 4-6 weeks.

1. Eliminate: phase out low-utility avoidable plastics that do not require a replacement through policies, innovations, consumer behaviour shifts, and incentives.

2. Reuse-consumer: substitute single-use products and packages with reusable items owned and managed by the user/consumer (e.g., water bottles, reusable bags)

3. Reuse-business: develop new delivery models (e.g. Loop Store)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBwsWuJw-Kc

2. Substitute plastic with alternatives, such as paper and compostable materials* by making them more competitive in the market. How?

1. Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies

2. Consider taxes on virgin plastic

3. Develop extended producer responsibility schemes

4. Fund innovation in new materials and packaging designs

*before any substitution, it is essential to run a full life-cycle assessment to be sure that the alternative will actually have less of an environmental and social impact.

3. Expand the share of economically recyclable plastic

1. How? Design products and packaging for recycling

2. Why? "Many plastic items are currently designed in ways that make recycling difficult, uneconomical, or even impossible." (The Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ, 2020)

4. Increase waste collection rates in middle-/low-income countries

1. Why? The report estimates that "22% (47 million metric tons) of total annual plastic waste is currently left uncollected". In addition, worldwide, almost 60% of all the plastic recycled is collected by the informal sector. Waste pickers frequently operate in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

2. How? Increasing collection rates requires a tremendous amount of resources, stricter regulatory oversight and technological innovation. High-income countries will likely be able to absorb these costs, but for middle and low-income nations, this will be particularly challenging.

5. Double mechanical recycling capacity globally

1. How? Open 107 recycling plants of 20,000 metric tons per year capacity globally every year from 2021 until 2040. This means a total of 2,140 plants in 20 years.

2. Obs.: Even though, today, recycling is less economical than landfill or incineration, given improvement in recycling design as well as technologies and expansion of collection rates, recycling has the potential to break even, and even become net-profitable.

6. Develop plastic-to-plastic conversion

1. What? This is a process that uses chemical agents to break down lower-value plastic into basic chemical building blocks that can be used to make new plastic or other materials.

2. How? Open 32 plastic-to-plastic plants (of 20,000 metric tons per year capacity each) every year from 2021 until 2040.

3. Obs.: This solution is to be used only for plastic waste that cannot be reduced, substituted, or mechanically recycled, because chemical conversion technology is still in its early stage and is associated with high energy requirements and GHG emissions.

7. Build facilities to dispose of plastic that cannot be recycled economically

1. Why? Landfills, incinerators and plastic-to-fuel chemical conversion should be last resorts after reduce, substitute and recycle solutions have been exploited to their fullest potential. Nonetheless, it is unrealistic to assume that end-of-life disposal of plastic waste will no longer be necessary in 2040.

8. Reduce plastic waste exports into countries with low collection and high leakage rates

1. Why? In 2016, high-income countries exported 3.5 million metric tons of plastic waste to middle and low-income countries. While high-income countries account this plastic waste as "recycled", in reality, part of it is actually mismanaged and ends up harming local people and the environment.

As you can see, addressing the plastic crisis is no easy task, yet it is a possible one. We can imagine a life in less plastic as long as we have an engagement by all stakeholders, including governments, businesses, consumers etc.

If you got excited by this roadmap, I highly recommend checking out the full report summary, where exact numbers are laid out and organized in some pretty neat graphics.

Before we move to our next and final post in the plastic journey, I could not talk about circular economy for plastics and not mention the new Upstream Innovation guide by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2uoMa_m3ZU

Here you will get to explore some of the creative and innovative approaches focusing on the reduce and reuse solutions mentioned in the first intervention of the report.

Go check it out and be inspired!

I'll see you in our last post of the plastic journey!

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Sources:

Systemiq | Transforming Systems For a Better Future. (2020, October 1). Systemiq. https://www.systemiq.earth/breakingtheplasticwave/

The Pew Charitable Trusts & SYSTEMIQ. (2020a). Breaking The Plastic Wave: A comprehensive assessment of pathways towards stopping ocean plastic pollution. https://www.systemiq.earth/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BreakingThePlasticWave_SummaryReport.pdf