Day: August 15, 2021

Although circularity goals have risen to the top of executives’ agendas, the path to a waste-free world remains less clear. Fortune magazine’s latest white paper, produced in partnership with Dow, aims to help sustainability leaders and practitioners understand the current challenges and collaborate on circular solutions. In a year of sweeping corporate commitments to sustainability, setting zero-waste goals is a top priority at the very highest levels in business. In fact, 70 percent of business leaders see recycling and waste reduction as integral to their business operations. Although circularity goals have risen to the top of executives’ agendas, the path to realizing a waste-free world remains less clear. That’s why Fortune magazine’s latest white paper, produced in partnership with Dow, is critical to implementing and scaling sustainable solutions.

Japan has put a spotlight on sustainability at the 2020 Olympic Games, with athletes standing on podiums made of recycled plastics to receive medals crafted from recycled small electronics before sleeping on beds made of cardboard. Electric cars ferry competitors and media between venues, many of which are temporary constructions made of recycled wood that will be dismantled after the Games, preventing the white elephant stadiums left behind in other host cities. The Tokyo organising committee has hung its hat on providing a “beyond carbon neutrality” event, a goal it will meet with the help of donated carbon offset credits from businesses in Tokyo and Saitama prefectures, the two Games locations, along with the lack of spectators. “What we have seen is now everybody is much more aware that everybody has a role to play in climate action,” said IOC sustainability development chief Marie Sallois.

America’s leading plastic companies today outlined five sustainable actions Congress can take immediately to grow the circular economy for plastics through a comprehensive, national strategy. The strategy includes a national standard that all plastic packaging contains at least 30% recycled plastic by 2030, development of an appropriate regulatory system that enables rapid scaling of advanced recycling, and an American-designed producer responsibility system for packaging that raises critical funding dedicated to improving recycling access, collection and education for all materials. “It’s time to accelerate the circular economy for plastic packaging,” said ACC’s Joshua Baca, vice president, plastics. “We need Congress to act on a comprehensive national strategy that will capture the value of used plastic by engaging the entire plastics value chain, from plastic makers to brand companies to all Americans.

The Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE) Secretariat has released five publications that outline how the electronics, textiles, food, plastics, and capital equipment sectors can increase their circularity. Comprising the ‘Circular Economy Action Agenda,’ the reports serve as a rallying call for businesses, governments, researchers, consumers, and civil society to work together. Each publication outlines the objective for a circular economy and what circularity in that particular sector looks like, the impact on people and the planet if those objectives were to be achieved, the barriers that stand to hinder implementation, and actions that can optimize the sector’s transition towards a more circular economy.

As an industry, we are beginning to understand that the sourcing of sustainable materials and traceability go hand in hand. Without traceability, you cannot truly advance sustainability, and in turn, create a more circular economy. Take food as an example. You can walk into any supermarket and buy a product labelled to show it has been produced ethically and sustainably. If you really wanted, you could even call the manufacturer. This is highly beneficial to both producer and consumer, with the producer able to prove their sustainable credentials to those consumers seeking sustainable products.

Governments, companies and private financial institutions invest over $1.3 trillion a year in the circular economy, according to Chatham House, in the first-ever estimate of its kind. “Recycling, reusing materials and reducing waste makes clear business sense, which is why spending on the circular economy is rising rapidly,” said Patrick Schröder, senior research fellow at Chatham House. “However, funding remains far below where it needs to be to reap the full investment rewards. Moving from a linear ‘take-make-throw away’ economy to circular, sustainable business models will create jobs, promote investment and protect the planet.” The analysis by Chatham House and Just Economics found that companies invest around $800 billion a year in the circular economy – just over 2% of the $35 trillion that goes towards the linear economy.