Face the truth, plastic recycling is a chimera
As corporations tout sustainability efforts, the reality of plastic recycling falls short, with global rates stagnating at nine percent and health risks from chemical additives mounting. Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder of A Plastic Planet & Plastic Health Council, calls for greater accountability in plastic use.
Walk into a corporate sustainability event and you might see a slick presentation on a brand or retailers latest 'sustainability' push. All may talk of the significant steps they are taking to do their bit for the planet, the efforts they are going to measuring their impact, the brilliant offset schemes they are backing and their new ESG targets. And yet, here we are. Peak plastic, emissions rising, bottom-line profit prevailing, economic growth still the ultimate measure of success, biodiversity declining by the minute. Are we really being truthful? And if not, who are we lying to.
Increasingly, we see the eco-marketing campaigns of multinationals discredited by simply lifting the lid on the token schemes which are too often designed to distract. The findings of Everyday Plastic's investigation that seventy per cent of soft plastic in supermarket recycling schemes are incinerated should not come as a surprise, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Don't be fooled by 'collected for recycling' statistics. After years of rhetoric, we are still stuck at our global plastic recycling uncontested ceiling of 9 percent. The rest is sent to landfill, river, ocean or bonfire.
The response of Tesco and Sainsburys predictably used the tired playbook of yesteryear – 'it's not our fault, the country should just recycle more…and you should pay'. A playbook written by Big Oil and preached by its corporate disciples.
The corporate zeitgeist believes increased recycling and improved 'eco-design' will save their day, but such wishful thinking will result in a 43 percent rise in plastic waste from their supply chain by 2040. Our systems cannot cope with the pace of plastic production and our bodies cannot cope of the heightened chemical cocktail which is present in every piece of recycled plastic we buy.
We need to face the plastic truth. And the truth is that recycling is a chimera.
And if the physical blight and impact of plastic pollution were not bad enough, there's another mountain of toxicity we need to talk about. A new chemical is produced every 1.4 minutes. 16,000 chemicals are used in plastic and yet only six percent are currently subject to international regulation [https://plastchem-project.org/]. The impact of this toxic soup of endocrine disrupters, PFAs and phthalates present in plastic is cancer, infertility, heart disease and more ultimately costing billions to our healthcare systems. These chemicals do not disappear through recycling, they compound up, losing traceability with any element of accountability for the producers being diluted further.
The reality is that many corporates know for many there is no choice but to shop in their stores, that profits are safe if plastic is subsidised. The spotlight of policymakers has been dimmed. It is only risk that will smash the business-as-usual model that clings to this toxic material.
But creating this economic risk is not unachievable, it is inevitable and it is happening faster than predicted. Planet Tracker's new report 'Novel Entities' shows the clear connection between the health impact of these chemicals and the significance financial risks investors face. Anticipated corporate liabilities are expected to exceed 20 billion dollars in the US alone by 2030.
Significant litigation risk, in turn triggering profit warnings, asset sales and dividend cuts will be another source of such catalysing risk. California's Attorney General, Rob Bonta, spoke out very clearly this month as he announced the lawsuit against Exxon. The state claiming billions of dollars in reparations, to compensate their state for the deceit around the reality on plastic and the resulting health risks. This should be a warning to all who continue to hide behind fake recycling schemes.
Responsibility for the devastation caused by plastic must be met by the companies that continue to use it as the default material when alternatives are already available. These new nature-compatible, human-safe solutions are fighting a new apathy from corporates who have already decided they cannot shift from plastic and hit their sustainability goals, many of which were meant to be met by 2025. Plastic, an incredible but toxic indestructible material, has no place in a regenerative economy.
We need business to wake up, move the money to the materials and systems of the future, and protect the health of their customers rather than the healthy bottom line of the fossil fuel industry. The Global Plastic Treaty will undoubtedly bring further scrutiny to the doorstep of industry. Litigation is building momentum. Risk is being created. So I say to those corporates with their head in the sand, embrace the opportunity presented by a post-plastic economy, be the first to reap the rewards. 
