An industry-wide expansion of sustainable plastic initiatives suchDell’s recycled plastic and Algix’s bioplastic could deliver $3.5 billion in environmental savings, according to a paper by Trucost.
But to achieve these benefits, business have to massively scale up these efforts.
“There are many blockers to scaling up sustainable plastics,” Trucost chief executive Richard Mattison told Environmental Leader. “Lack of investment, lack of awareness, lack of credibility and lack of knowledge sharing are combining to mean that small scale innovations do not become widespread. This is a classic innovation problem. The best ideas don’t always win. Our study highlights sustainable plastic innovations and illustrates what would happen if they were scaled across their respective industries.”
Circular economy approaches such as closed-loop recycling, plant-based plastic and biodegradable polymers can reduce the environmental cost of conventional, fossil fuel-based plastic. Not enough companies, however, are pioneering these new processes and technologies.