Ellen Struthers, Associate Director, Resource Recovery & Waste Service Line Lead for Europe, Middle East and Africa, highlights the action required for businesses, policymakers, and stakeholders across the supply chain to collectively address plastic pollution.
In the face of an escalating global plastics crisis, finding innovative, evidence-based, and scalable solutions has become crucial.
Let’s explore how collaboration, policy, and new recycling technologies can drive systemic change towards a circular plastics system.
The key to a circular plastics system
The scale of the plastics problem is staggering, with global plastic production exceeding 400 million metric tonnes annually.
This year’s Plastic Overshoot Day served as a stark reminder of the urgency of this crisis, while the upcoming Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution underscores the growing international resolve to tackle it.
Addressing this massive global challenge requires a multifaceted approach. Upstream and downstream solutions – from radical reduction in production to advanced recycling technologies – are essential.
A growing body of evidence highlights the importance of combining advanced recycling technologies, like molecular recycling with traditional mechanical recycling, to increase the amount of plastic that is effectively captured for recycling.
Currently, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled globally, indicating a significant opportunity for new solutions.
Yet, businesses often hesitate to adopt solutions without clear evidence of how the efficiency of current systems can be improved and the financial and environmental returns on investment.
There is a pressing need for data that demonstrates how supply chains currently operate and the value of recycling approaches across different contexts.
By building a solid evidence base, governments, businesses and other value chain actors can pursue plastic reduction initiatives with greater confidence, ensuring resources and investment are targeted in the most effective way.
Molecular recycling: A game-changer for the circular economy
Anthesis, the world’s largest pure play sustainability firm, works with organisations ranging from industry bodies to investors and large corporations to help navigate the complexities of sustainability.
Anthesis and Closed Loop Partners, a firm at the forefront of building the circular economy, along with other industry players, worked together to provide a resource on diverse molecular recycling technologies, aiding investors and policymakers by evaluating what needs to be true for molecular cycling technologies to play a safe and circular role in addressing plastic waste.
A suite of upstream and downstream solutions is needed to reduce the diversity of plastic waste, and molecular recycling can help treat plastic waste streams that are difficult for traditional recycling systems to recover.
By converting plastic waste into high-quality, like-new materials, molecular recycling can help meet the growing demand for recycled plastics and supports circular material flows.
It complements mechanical recycling, creating a more robust and effective infrastructure for plastics recycling.
The report published by Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, Transitioning to a Circular System for Plastic, which Anthesis supported as a technical partner, explores the potential to integrate molecular recycling into North American plastic supply chains.
The report offers critical insights on the economic viability, environmental impact, and human health risks associated with different molecular recycling technologies.
This analysis addresses a lack of comparative and systems-level analysis in the sector, providing stakeholders with the data needed to make informed decisions.
The path forward: How collaboration drives change
The transition to a circular economy for plastics relies on a central pillar: collaboration. Addressing plastic waste is an immense challenge, and no single entity can resolve it alone.
A coordinated effort among value chain actors and influencers including brands, petrochemical companies, manufacturers, waste collectors, reprocessors, consumers, NGOs, investors and policymakers is essential to develop and implement effective consumer engagement initiatives and comprehensive solutions that span the entire lifecycle of plastic products.
Consumer goods companies, for example, must collaborate with packaging manufacturers, municipal waste services, and retailers to ensure that products are designed for reuse and recycling within the constraints of existing infrastructure.
As these partnerships grow, they also help shape market dynamics, creating a more circular economy for plastics.
Collaborative efforts can help unlock new market opportunities for recycled content, reduce the reliance on virgin plastic, and demonstrate that circular business models can be both environmentally sustainable and economically viable.
The future of a circular economy depends on bringing together the collective strengths of stakeholders and aligning their goals.
Collaboration is the cornerstone of scaling solutions that address the root causes of plastic waste and pave the way for a more sustainable future.
Mapping local plastic recycling supply chains for The Circulate Initiative
Plastic management systems differ significantly across regions, and these variations underscore the need for localised approaches and collaboration.
Countries in North America and Europe have established formal systems for plastic collection supported by long established and strongly enforced waste management regulation.
However, supply chains for plastic can be very complex in regions of the world that rely on the informal sector for plastics collection and recycling, including parts of Asia, Africa and South America.
Collection, consolidation, and recycling in these areas depends on numerous informal transactions shaped by local traditions, culture, infrastructure, and market demands.
Where financial drivers and transparency in cost structures are weak, plastic waste risks remaining uncollected, posing health risks to communities and contributing to environmental pollution.
Recognising that very few existing studies on national waste flows explore the plastic supply chains in a more localised context, The Circulate Initiative selected Anthesis to be the lead research partner to conduct a detailed assessment of wastesheds in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
By highlighting the interconnections within these informal systems, the research reveals how local conditions influence the flow and recycling of plastic waste.
The project emphasises the critical importance of cross-value chain collaboration, policy alignment, and enforcement to protect public health, support informal sector workers, and ultimately reduce plastic leakage into the environment.
Working collaboratively with local communities, governments, and businesses can create conditions for a more transparent and effective recycling system that promotes the well-being of informal workers while tackling the systemic issues around plastic waste.
Uniting research, industry, and policy for plastic circularity
The transition to a circular economy requires the collective efforts of the entire value chain, underpinned by strong evidence, investment, and policy alignment. In order to turn the tide on plastic waste, businesses, investors, and policymakers must take action.
Businesses should consider their critical role within the value chain and how they can have both upstream and downstream influence to reduce overall resource consumption and increase circularity of the resources they use.
As we look ahead to the negotiation of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, we are reminded of the critical role that legislation plays in levelling the playing field and creating the necessary infrastructure and incentives for change.
The implementation and enforcement of suitable regulation is essential for providing market confidence in investment into solutions, ensuring plastic value chains operate effectively and that leakage of plastic is minimised.
The treaty represents a unique opportunity to align global efforts and create a cohesive strategy for addressing plastic pollution.
Ultimately, collaboration will be the driving force behind the circular economy.
Single technologies and single solutions won’t make the difference, it will be the collaboration between different stakeholders and partnerships and investment into a suite of solutions which will bring the impact we need, bringing together diverse expertise and resources to tackle the plastic pollution challenge from all sides.
