U.S. Plastics Producers Aim to Recycle or Recover 100% of Plastic Packaging by 2040

Three new goals to enhance the circular economy for plastics and reduce packaging waste have been announced by leading U.S. plastic producers including BASF, Dow, DuPont and Braskem. Together as part of the American Chemistry Council (ACC)’s Plastics Division, 15 leading resin manufacturers and an affiliated trade association have strengthened their commitments to capturing, recycling and recovering plastics. The announcement follows recent news that 42 consumer packaged goods (CPG) giants have committed to eliminate plastic packaging waste under the new UK Plastics Pact. Around 8 percent of current fossil fuel dependency is attributed to plastic production, and much of the world’s plastic is used just once and then thrown away – resulting in 95 percent of the value of plastic packaging, worth up to $120 billion annually, being lost to the economy. Trucost has estimated that the environmental cost to society of plastic use by the consumer goods sector alone is around $75 billion, and that scaling up the use of sustainable plastic could deliver environmental savings of $3.5 billion.