Circularity headlines make for a busy summer

There's no such thing as a slow week for news in plastics. Let's open up my reporters' notebook and look at a few topics related to sustainability that are on my mind.

First, despite significant efforts to solve the ocean plastic litter problem, it's getting worse.

A new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts, called "Breaking the Plastic Wave," predicts that the amount of plastic going into oceans annually will nearly triple by 2040. The current estimate is 11 million metric tons per year. In just 20 years, that will rise to 29 million tonnes.

And that already takes into account all of the government and industry efforts underway to reverse the problem. So yes, it could be even worse.

The report recommends a variety of potential solutions, but one strikes me as being really radical: to stop expanding virgin resin capacity. According to the report, if global plastics consumption can stay at about the current level and industry can work to make a more circular economy for plastic, then we can make real progress on the ocean plastic problem.

Halting resin expansion is something that we've been seeing more frequently from environmental groups and some legislators. It's a proposal that could cause real economic pain, especially in North America, which has a feedstock cost advantage thanks to plentiful natural gas.

Getting plastics to be part of a truly circular economy would have benefits beyond reducing ocean plastic. But I'm skeptical that it will happen voluntarily. So be prepared for more legislative attempts to restrict plastics.

Also, let's not forget that the world has a waste management problem, not just a plastic waste problem. If government action ends up encouraging production of single-use items made from other materials, that doesn't really solve the problem. In fact, it could make it worse.

Next on my plate, a related question: How can we make plastics more circular, while maybe even avoiding more bans and taxes?

Some state legislators are trying a different strategy. In New Jersey, they're debating proposals that would mandate high levels of recycled plastic in beverage bottles, rigid containers, trash can liners and carryout bags. Washington state and California have also debated proposals to require more recycled content.

Plastics processors already use post-consumer content in many of those products. But quality recycled resin can be more expensive than virgin resin. Processors, brand owners and consumers need help.

My opinion is that processors can learn to use more post-consumer raw materials, but they need customers that are willing to pay for it. Requiring more post-consumer content is a step in the right direction.

Finally, big retailers including Walmart and Target announced a three-year project called the Beyond the Bag Initiative, a push to "reinvent single-use plastic bags."

The partners are challenging designers to come up with a solution to plastic bag issues and helping to fund pilot projects and necessary infrastructure.

This seems like a great idea, assuming this is 1990. Coming in 2020, I have a feeling this ship has sailed, and the plastics industry missed the boat.

We've seen a temporary pause in plastic bag bans because of COVID-19, and I absolutely support communities that have made the decision to protect grocery workers. Post-COVID, though, I think bans will return.

But I'm still eager to see what this consortium proposes. It would be a shame, just as we're finally seeing progress on making flexible packaging more recyclable, if the grocery-based infrastructure for collecting bags disappears. It would be expensive to replace.

Single-use bags are convenient, reusable and recyclable. But not enough people recycle them, and they too frequently end up as litter. If we can't recycle T-shirt bags, what hope is there to recycle other flexible packaging?

Loepp is editor of Plastics News and author of the Plastics Blog. Follow him on Twitter @donloepp.