Company pledges to reduce plastic don’t work, study finds

Plastic waste is one of the biggest problems of our time and is forcing companies to commit to reducing their own waste, following public demand. But how effective is this?

A new study says voluntary company pledges do little to tackle plastic waste, as few agree to reduce their use of virgin plastic – the real problem.

‘We found that rather than shutting off the plastic tap at its source, companies are overwhelmingly focused on downstream waste-reduction strategies such as including more recycled or potentially recyclable plastic in their products and marginally reducing the volume of plastic used in their packaging, a practice known as lightweighting,’ said Zoie Diana, a PhD candidate at Duke’s School of Environment, who led the research.

She continued: ‘But if a company reinvests its savings from lightweighting into new products that also use plastic, or if it ends up making more bags, bottles and containers overall — even if they are individually lighter and less plastic-intensive, it’s not going to result in a net reduction of plastic pollution.’

Between 1950 and 2017, plastic production has increased 174-fold and is expected to double again by 2040, with 79% of waste ending up in landfills or the environment. Only 9% is ever recycled, with only one-tenth recycled more than once over the last 50 years.

‘Very little of the plastic we put in the recycling bin actually ends up being reused’ Diana said. ‘Recycling just delays plastic disposal and pollution. Any comprehensive solution needs to target virgin plastic production and use.’

Researchers from Duke University in the US found 72% of the top 300 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list, but this doesn’t necessarily equal a significant reduction in plastic waste.

Analysis reviewed the annual reports of nearly 1,000 of the world’s biggest companies and found vague wording in commitments to tackling plastic.

The commitments weren’t measurable, tended to have no deadlines and researchers found little recognition of the link between plastic and the climate crisis.

‘The majority of companies made no connection in publicly available reports between reducing their carbon footprint and reducing their plastic footprint, particularly in terms of reducing the production and use of virgin plastic,’ Diana said.

It’s hoped the international plastics treaty the United Nations is working on will help to target virgin plastic, while Diana also believes scientific scrutiny of corporations’ plastic footprints can hold them accountable.

Muntaka Chasant via Wikimedia Commons