The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF), a well-known British advocacy organization, has been committed to promoting circular economy issues since its establishment in 2010. A study released in 2016 pointed out that only 14% is used in plastic packaging products in the world. It is truly recycled and reused, and even 34% flows into the natural environment, causing a huge impact. This situation may lead to the amount of plastic garbage in the ocean being more than the number of fish species in 2050 AD. Relevant information has successfully aroused discussion and attention from all walks of life and has been cited frequently. In view of the three major global crises caused by the existing usage patterns of plastic products: climate change, resource consumption, and environmental pollution, the foundation and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) jointly launched the "New Plastics Economy Global Commitment" initiative in 2018. It aims to combine the capabilities of corporate brands, industrial supply chains, and public and private institutions to jointly promote the use and development strategies of plastic packaging that are in line with economic development in the new era. Starting from the elimination of unnecessary plastics, innovative technologies and actions will be used to ensure that necessary plastic products are Reusable, recyclable or compostable, keeping plastic products used in human life away from the natural environment. The "New Plastics Economy Global Commitment" initiative has received high response from all walks of life since it was first proposed. In addition to professional investment institutions, government agencies and research institutions, participants also include well-known corporate brands, and their influence covers many international leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG, Fast Moving Consumer Goods) companies and global plastic packaging consumption of up to 20%. More than a thousand organizations have participated in the initiative, and its signatories will follow "signatory obligations" that vary depending on the nature of the unit, and achieve six common vision goals within the 2025 phased target period. Six shared visions Vision 1: Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging through redesign, innovation and new logistics models. The aforementioned studies have fully shown that recycling alone cannot immediately and completely solve the problem of plastic resource waste. Therefore, the first action of the new plastic economy is to promote source reduction and target disposable plastic products such as tableware, straws and plastic bags and five-use plastic products. A plastic material is used as the elimination object in the first stage. Figure 1: Statistics on the elimination rate of various plastic or packaging types in the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment (Source: The Global Commitment 2020 Progress Report) Vision 2: Where feasible, reuse models should be adopted to reduce the consumption of single-use packaging need. Switching from a one-time to a reusable model can reduce resource waste or pollution caused by waste disposal, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is also helpful for companies to reduce costs and improve product packaging quality. However, analysis from the 2020 official progress report shows that currently less than 3% of packaging is reusable, showing that there is still a lot of room for improvement, but one-third of the signatories have stated that they have actively experimented and evaluated Possibility of reusing packaging for future import. Vision 3: All plastic packaging can be 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable. Consider the compatibility of the current resource classification mechanism and recycling system, and use redesign and innovative methods to match the business model, Factors such as material selection, processing technology and packaging design are pushing plastic packaging towards a final disposal mode that is reusable, recyclable or compostable. Currently, 139 product manufacturers, packaging manufacturers and retailers have signed and committed to implement specific measures to make plastic packaging recyclable or compostable. For example, Sprite, a carbonated drink owned by Coca-Cola, has also abandoned the iconic green bottle and has started to use transparent plastic bottles in some countries and regions to help the back-end plastic recycling, granulation and Reuse, and further set a global zero-waste goal for 2030, committing to help recycle every beverage bottle and can sold. Figure 2: New packaging for Sprite carbonated drinks (Source: Coca-colacompany.com) Vision 4: Ensure that all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable. To ensure that this goal is achieved, all sectors of society will need to sign on. In order to exert its influence, the most important thing is the formulation of government policies and the strengthening of infrastructure. Recycling companies that have signed the initiative have promised to increase their recycling processing capacity by more than four times by 2025. The total recycling processing energy will increase from the current level. 800,000 tons increased by 2.9 million tons, reaching 3.7 million tons. Vision Five: The use of plastics is completely decoupled from the consumption of limited resources. In order to eliminate human society's dependence on limited resources such as petrochemical mining, we advocate that the operation of product supply chains actively shift to recycled materials or renewable materials, including the construction and use of renewable energy. The 7 plastic raw material factories currently signed account for 4.4% of global production. The demand for plastic recycled materials by 2025 will now increase by more than 5 million tons/year. Vision 6: All plastic packaging does not contain harmful chemical raw materials, and the health, safety and rights of all industry-related personnel are valued. The goal of this project is to avoid the use of harmful chemical raw materials and additives in plastic packaging product manufacturers, and to pay attention to the occupational safety and health management of personnel. It aims to protect plastic industry practitioners and stakeholders, such as scavengers who often come into contact with waste plastic containers with their bare hands. In addition, it is also hoped that through initiative management, signatories will be urged to report information regularly to make the industry more open and transparent, thereby achieving the goal of promoting personnel health and safety. In recent years, the plastic industry has been affected by policies and laws such as plastic restrictions and bans, as well as public opinion pressure on environmental hazards. The impact on the industry has been considerable. However, the focus of this wave of new plastic economic initiative trends is not to eliminate plastic products, but to The starting point is to minimize environmental impact, make full use of plastic products and control them in economic activities, and finally help the plastics industry transform through changes in business models, such as reducing the mining and use of new materials, while increasing recycled materials and production. The share of quality materials, etc. Regarding the impact of the overall environment on the development of the plastics industry, it is recommended that companies analyze and consider the four aspects of policy norms, public opinion pressure, operating costs and industrial competition, so as to respond as early as possible. – Policies and regulations: Understand that various countries have successively enacted plastic-related legal restrictions, including the gradual ban on disposable plastic products and the mandatory addition of recycled materials or raw materials. Going further, such as the introduction of plastic taxes in Europe, various trade obstacles will be formed in the future... . – Pressure of public opinion: In addition to considering the product quality and brand image that consumers have paid attention to in the past, the use of plastic products and their packaging also needs to pay attention to the subsequent recycling processing and whether the material ingredients are environmentally friendly and harmless to cater to green procurement and green consumer group. – Operating costs: In response to the vision and goals promised by the new plastic economy, brands are developing new business models one after another, or switching to alternative materials such as recycled materials and biomass materials. In particular, plastic recycled materials cannot be detected by instruments, and they are occasionally mixed and counterfeited. In this situation, those who add and use recycled materials need to confirm their sources. The relevant product certification mechanism has gradually become a basic condition for entering the market. However, the sales price of raw materials with external certification is generally higher than those without certification, so system construction needs to be configured early. The manpower and expected cost investment of the equipment. (Recycled material verification and inspection items are shown in Figure 3) – Industrial competition: In addition to traditional business competition, after brand owners and manufacturers have significantly increased their demand for recycled materials, the expansion of material sources and suppliers has become a necessary supply chain development strategy. Therefore, it may also lead to phenomena such as grabbing materials at the source, large factories squeezing out small factories, or cross-industry competition. Competition within the same industry and across industries needs to be considered. Figure 3: Plastic Center PRM Plastic Recycled Materials Traceability Verification Inspection Project Reference Materials New Plastic Economy Global Commitment official website URL: https://www.newplasticseconomy.org/projects/global-commitment Recycling Taiwan Foundation [New Plastic Economy Global Commitment] Traditional Chinese version website: https://circular-taiwan.org/learn/thenewplasticseconomy-cn/
