A letter published Oct. 12, signed by twelve member companies of the Consumer Goods Forum's (CGF) Coalition of Action on Plastic Waste, calls for more access to chemically recycled material produced responsibly and in line with the environmental safeguards of these companies.
Addressed to suppliers, regulators and investors, the letter also points to a wider survey of coalition member companies, which indicated that among this group demand for chemically recycled material would reach some 800,000 metric tons per year by 2030, in addition to these companies’ needs for mechanically recycled materials.
The letter's signatories indicate "their common interest in the development of credible, safe and environmentally sound chemical recycling infrastructure put forward by the industry players in Europe …. and in purchasing commercial volumes of chemically recycled plastic content to incorporate in their packaging portfolio from the relevant organizations in the supply chain referred to as the Sellers (e.g., chemical industry players)."
This interest is, however, conditioned on these materials, being produced in accordance with the principles outlined in the April 2022 Vision and Principles Paper, entitled "Chemical Recycling in a Circular Economy for Plastics."
Published by members of the Coalition, the paper encourages the development of new plastics recycling technologies that meet six key principles for credible, safe and environmentally sound development. At that same time, members of the Coalition published an independent Life Cycle Assessment study, demonstrating that the chemical recycling of hard-to-recycle plastic waste could reduce the climate impact of plastic when compared to waste-to-energy incineration. According to that study, system-level emissions would be approximately 40% lower in certain geographies and under certain conditions if at-scale chemical recycling was available to process hard-to-recycle plastics, rather than sending these plastics to waste-to-energy incinerators.
The Coalition recognizes that although chemical recycling technology is not a silver bullet, it is currently the only way to recycle large volumes of flexible plastics packaging and other mixed polyethylene and polypropylene into food-grade PE/PP recycled content under current European regulations. It is therefore an important technology for the recycling of unavoidable plastic waste which cannot be otherwise recycled mechanically.
The survey of member companies revealed that there is demand for at least 800,000 tonnes of chemically recycled materials per year by 2030 represents a wake-up call for regulators and investors. These companies are sending a strong signal regarding the need for scale in plastics chemical recycling infrastructure while at the same time meeting the necessary environmental safeguards laid out in the Coalition's Vision and Principles paper.
Demand for chemically recycled material emphatically does not reduce the need to continue the scale-up of mechanical recycling infrastructure. It is primarily focused on demand which cannot be met at scale by mechanically recycled materials today, such as food-contact flexible packaging applications.
The Coalition members signing this letter include: Amcor, Barilla, Colgate Palmolive, Danone, Ferrero, Haleon, Henkel, Mars, Incorporated, McCain Foods, Mondelēz International, PepsiCo, Unilever.