Three global executives talk about recycling: what is your vision on plastic?

“While the industry increased its profits, the mass production of plastics single use has led to the destruction of ecosystems, such as wetlands, that provide essential environmental services,” says Joshua Amponsem, founder of the Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO).

Also a climate specialist at the United Nations Secretary-General’s Office of the Envoy for Youth, the slow transition to a circular economy and, therefore, to the recycling of plastic, It is because companies and philanthropies have focused on digital and technological innovations, leaving out the key players in the recycling phase: informal recyclers and informal waste aggregators.

“Without them, recycling does not work,” he highlights. Their role is key -he indicates- because they prevent the contamination of our functional ecosystems, in addition to reducing the risk of flooding in densely populated areas.

To the date, Recycling has been touted as a solution to avoid pollution, yet more than 90% of the plastics produced since 1950 have not been recycled.

A proposal from Nestlé?

Jodie Roussell, Global Head of Public Affairs, Packaging and Sustainability at nestleaffirms that to global scale, the amount of containers that are inadequately created or managed at the end of their useful life is a serious and persistent environmental problem.

“Plastics pollution is a systemic challenge (…) No agent or country can solve plastic pollution on its own,” he mentions.

For the food and beverage industrythe generation of plastic containers is essential to maintain the safety of your products, what is needed to keep them in the economy but out of the environment?

“We need a harmonized regulatory framework from governments, the enforcement capacity of business, and the vision and insights of academia and civil society to tackle it together. A legally binding treaty is the most important opportunity to accelerate progress towards a circular economy for plastic, taking advantage of the lessons learned from existing initiatives”, also points out the Co-Chair of the Political Working Group of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty.

The coalition supports three key objectives (i) reduction of the production and use of virgin plastic through a circular economy approach, (ii) circulation of all plastic items that cannot be disposed of and (iii) prevention and remediation of the remaining and difficult-to-remove micro- and macroplastics leaking into the environment.

“Get them out of the dump”

For his part, Dr. Bob Maughon, Executive Vice President of Sustainability, Technology and Innovation at SABIC -a company that is increasing the percentage of recycling in its final products- pointed out that lhe plastics value chain faces two key challenges: stopping plastic waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

In this regard, he indicated that associations are essential to address the plastic waste. SABIC is a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, an organization that brings together stakeholders from across the value chain to take collective action on the ground. The alliance works for a future where plastic products never end up in landfills or oceans, but are reused or transformed into new products. SABIC is also actively involved in the transition from a linear economy to a circular carbon economy.

With information from World Economic Forum

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