Business and government disclose progress on circular economy for plastics

The One Planet network plastics initiative is in-line with the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, now with over 400 organisations as signatories, which envisions a circular economy for plastics in which plastics never become waste.

The first annual New Plastics Economy Global Commitment progress report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the UN Environment Programme highlights leading examples and discloses the progress of individual companies and governments towards a circular economy for plastics.

About the report

In this report, for the first time 176 businesses across the global plastics value chain (93% of the business signatories eligible to report) and 14 governments across five continents (out of 16 government signatories eligible to report) have reported progress against public targets to help build a circular economy for plastics.12 They all share a common set of commitments and use common definitions. This report therefore creates unprecedented transparency and consistency in data sharing on plastics across a significant group of businesses and governments.

This first progress report sets a quantitative baseline against which to measure progress over the period to 2025 and lays out initial actions signatories have taken to realise their commitments. Due to the timing of reporting cycles, most quantitative data provided by business signatories is for 2018. For an overview of the commitments made by the business and government signatories, please see here.

About the Global Commitment

Launched in October 2018 with over 250 signatories, the Global Commitment now unites more than 400 organisations behind a common vision of a circular economy for plastics, in which plastics never become waste.

To help make this vision a reality, all business and government signatories of the Global Commitment are committing to ambitious 2025 targets. They will work to eliminate the plastic items we don’t need; innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted; and circulate everything we use to keep it in the economy and out of the environment.

Unsplash - Samuel Scrimshaw