With 400 million tones of plastic waste produced annually and only 9% recycled, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has issued a renewed call for systemic collaboration across the global plastics value chain.
Its latest analysis argues that corporate progress on packaging sustainability, while notable among frontrunners, remains insufficient without collective action and regulatory alignment.
According to the Foundation, roughly 20% of the global plastic packaging market—including Nestlé, SC Johnson, and Unilever—has reaffirmed support for its Global Commitment 2030. This voluntary initiative, launched to eliminate waste and pollution, has already resulted in 14 million tonnes of virgin plastic being avoided—equivalent to preventing 1.8 trillion plastic bags or saving one barrel of oil every second. The report also highlights that signatories have tripled the use of recycled content and phased out billions of problematic packaging items.
Despite this progress, 80% of the market remains uncommitted. Rob Opsomer, Executive Lead for Plastics and Finance at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, emphasized that businesses “need not wait on the sidelines” for regulation but should instead help shape and accelerate it. He noted that the sector’s biggest challenges—scaling reusable packaging, addressing flexible plastics, and expanding recycling infrastructure in the Global South—are “systemic barriers” that no single company can overcome alone.
The Foundation’s Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, now supported by over 300 organizations, is pressing for ambitious global regulation that mandates reuse, recycling, and reduction targets. This coalition aims to align industry advocacy with the United Nations’ ongoing negotiations toward a legally binding global plastics treaty, expected to conclude in 2025.
Opsomer stressed that industry collaboration should move beyond internal targets to drive market-wide change through shared investment and consistent policy engagement. “We are trying to focus the collective efforts of industry on the three systemic barriers—reuse, flexible packaging, and infrastructure—and lead the way to faster impact,” he said.
At Unilever, global head of packaging Pablo Costa reinforced the same point: “No single company can solve plastic pollution alone. Every part of the packaging value chain has a really important role to play.” Costa added that harmonized global regulations, such as extended producer responsibility (EPR) frameworks, are essential to reduce fragmentation, lower transition costs, and encourage innovation.
EPR policies, now adopted or under consideration in over 50 countries, require producers to finance the collection, sorting, and recycling of their products. However, the design and enforcement of these systems vary widely, undermining scalability. Costa argued that harmonized rules would deliver “clear global economic, environmental, and social value” by creating consistency across markets and accelerating circular packaging solutions such as paper-based flexibles and refill systems.
The Foundation’s report positions business advocacy as pivotal to the success of the upcoming global plastics treaty, framing it not just as a sustainability obligation but as a competitiveness issue. With consumer and investor pressure mounting, early adopters are already influencing regulation and supply chains, while laggards risk being locked out of emerging circular markets.
