July 2024
What goes around comes around: Circular plastics
With plastics making up 30% of global waste, recycling them back into the economy reduces emissions and promotes sustainability.
Key takeaways
- The circular economy is based on three principles: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials, and regenerate nature. Currently, the global economy is only 7.2% circular vs. 9.1% in 2018, meaning more than 90% of materials extracted are either wasted, lost, or remain unavailable.
- Global material use has more than tripled in five decades and continues to grow. And according to BofA Global Research, plastic consumption, waste, emissions and leakage could increase by 50-70% by 2040. The good news is, unlike some materials, plastic, which makes up c.16% of global solid waste and 4% of emissions, can be recycled.
- Over the past few years, global regulations and policies have been introduced calling for the plastics industry to meet higher recycling targets. Plus, emerging solutions like biobased plastics and chemical recycling can promote increased sustainability.
Read our full analysis for a more in-depth look at these trends.
