Plastics Group Recommends Phaseout Of Some Materials

C&EN by Alexander Tullo | January 28, 2022

Firms agree to end use of some materials, such as polystyrene, in packaging

The US Plastics Pact—a collaboration between plastic-industry participants, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies—has released a list of 11 items its members aim to eliminate from packaging by 2025. Reviews from industry and environmental groups were mixed.

The pact has more than 100 members, including consumer product companies such as Coca-Cola and Unilever, retailers like Walmart and Target, and the chemical maker Eastman Chemical. Member companies say they produced a third of the packaging used in the US in 2020.

The group says it is filling a needed role in the plastics debate. “In the US in particular, there is a void in terms of an organization that is truly putting forward the strategy of developing a circular economy for plastics,” Emily Tipaldo, executive director of the US Plastics Pact, said in a Jan. 26 in a webinar.

The Problematic and Unnecessary Materials list is one of the pact’s first initiatives. The group’s initial criterion for listing materials was whether they will be broadly reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. The group then considered factors such as hazards to human health and hindering recyclability.

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