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With a lofty goal of creating a binding international framework to end plastic pollution by 2040, the road to a final and formal UN Global Plastics Treaty was never going to be smooth.
But, given it’s now three years in the making, there was hope that the most recent round of negotiations, which took place earlier this month in Geneva, Switzerland, would be more fruitful than the past five. No such luck.
Petrostates like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran stunted moves towards a more ambitious – and climate-critical – agreement. Other countries refused to settle for a watered-down stand-in.
As negotiations collapsed, the environmentally conscious among us were once again left disappointed and frustrated. Without something binding, in writing, the biggest plastic-producing nations simply aren’t going to put the planet (not to mention $1.5trn in global health-related economic losses) ahead of their petrochemical interests.
Looking ahead
The bright side is that ambitious nations will not compromise. No agreement is better than a compromised one, 100+ nations believe.
And given the continued failure of talks so far, other approaches will have to be considered to realise any kind of treaty – whether that’s an additional negotiating round or the creation of a “coalition of the willing” to move forward together outside of the existing negotiating framework.
Either way, binding guidance on plastic production and waste management isn’t coming nearly as fast as many of us had hoped. Understandably, many businesses globally may have been holding out for concrete instructions, particularly those with cross-border operations.
But as with most things in environmental diplomacy, waiting for international talks to come to a productive resolution means waiting on the sidelines as competitors pull ahead – treaty or not.
Stalled talks aren’t an excuse for businesses to hit pause on tackling their own plastic footprint. Waiting for multilateral alignment would be strategically irresponsible at this point.
Pressure from investors and consumers is mounting, and the longer companies go without taking action to combat plastic pollution, the shakier the ground they’re standing on when a (hopefully strong) global framework does drop.
There are countless ways businesses can take effective action. The latest bioplastic made from an ever-more bizarre ingredient may be one solution, but it’s hardly a silver bullet. True resilience and competitiveness will need a broader operational rethink, embedding circular solutions that genuinely revolutionise the way a company designs with, uses, and disposes of plastic.
Bioplastics (alone) won’t save us
Unlike traditional plastics, which are made using chemicals derived from fossil fuels, bioplastics rely on renewable biomass as their feedstock, sometimes making them biodegradable at end-of-life.
Many companies think they’re the perfect way to reduce our reliance on traditional fossil fuel plastics.
But an increase in bioplastic production has done little to dethrone the fossil-based originals, which remain cheaper.
And, at the end of the day, meeting growing production demands with greener materials isn’t automatically good for the environment; it’s just not as bad for the planet as pumping out more virgin plastics. As American author Joshua Becker wrote, “The most environmentally friendly product is the one you didn’t buy.”
On the whole, the same is true for manufacturing: making no products is almost always going to be better for the planet than manufacturing an eco-friendly alternative. This is not to discount all the incredible innovation that’s going on in the world of alternative materials, and there are exceptions, like carbon-negative materials made using organic waste that would otherwise rot and release methane.
Of course, if we could magically replace all current and future virgin plastic manufacturing with bio-based alternatives, our climate would likely be much better off.
But the fact remains that scaling new bioplastics takes huge amounts of time, money, and new infrastructure. Many new, eye-catching bioplastics are years away from widespread commercial adoption. Plus, switching to bioplastic completely would do nothing to tackle the mountains of plastic waste already sitting in landfills (and polluting our natural environment).
This isn’t to say that bioplastics don’t have their place. As we see every day in the Springwise Innovation Database, they can certainly be a powerful way to cut the carbon footprint of countless products, from medical-grade clothing to food packaging. But relying on these materials too much means we fail to tackle the real systemic drivers of plastic waste.
Eliminating and designing out plastic waste
It seems obvious: the best way to tackle plastic pollution is to avoid plastic use to begin with. This can be as simple as removing extra layers of unnecessary packaging.
It can also look like designing products for genuine longevity. German startup Open Funk, for instance, has created a kitchen mixer made completely out of modular components, enabling the easy repair and upgrading of parts. Similarly, UK-based Zig+Star designed its children’s shoes to grow with the wearer, helping its users keep their shoes for longer and avoid buying new pairs frequently.
Scale re-use and refill models
In food and drink, deposit return schemes have been lauded as one way to encourage customers to get on board with refill models – but downloading new apps or returning to the point of sale stops can be inconvenient.
To tackle this, German startup Borro has created an app-free solution that automates deposit refunds for reusable cups. When customers pay, they’re charged for both the drink and their cup, and the server scans a cup’s QR code to link it with the customer’s payment card. When customers drop their cups back at a self-service collection point, the QR code is scanned automatically, and a refund is issued to the original payment card.
HOPE Hydration, meanwhile, aims to eliminate single-use water bottles with a convenient free water network. It supplies refill water stations that are free both for the customer and venues, earning revenue instead from the unique advertising space it sells to brands on its refill hubs.
Improving recycling outcomes
Elimination and reuse are higher up the waste hierarchy than recycling, but it remains crucial. There are ample opportunities to reduce the costs of recycling and improve health, safety and efficiency.
Companies like Danu Robotics are calling on the help of the latest cutting-edge tech. Using AI and robotics, its system efficiently sorts through even contaminated and stuck-together waste materials.
Innovators are also discovering new ways every day to more effectively (and sustainably) break down waste so the materials can be repurposed.
Researchers in Japan, for instance, have found a more energy-efficient way to break down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – with the help of enzymes.
Staying ahead
The recent failure in treaty negotiations may feel like a setback, but the global push towards a plastic-free world continues – whether petrostates like it or not. National regulatory changes are continuing, like the UK’s evolving extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme, and innovators are scaling and maturing their solutions.
Circularity isn’t just about reducing waste in the short term; it’s about future-proofing the business as a whole against fluctuating resource costs and availability. Those that have made circularity a core business value, rather than a nice-to-have add-on, will gain a serious competitive advantage as consumer expectations and regional and global regulations shift. Others will be left scrambling.
