The pandemic forced people to rely on personal protective equipment (PPE) and single-use plastic test kits. At the same time, consumer goods companies have faced difficulties in implementing hygienically reusable solutions and have had to cope with disruptions to their packaging supply chains, with these trends often leading to a temporary increase in plastic production.
This new treaty is very good news for those working tirelessly to combat plastic pollution, but it is far from being finalized.é. An intergovernmental negotiating committee will meet for the first time by the end of the year, and its work should be completed by early 2024.
Edie interviewed Sander Defruyt, head of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s “New Plastics Economy” initiative, to find out how companies can prepare for the treaty’s implementation.
With products that are proving indispensable in the fight against Covid-19, the plastics industry is reinvigorated. This temporary respite in public anti-plastic sentiment has opened the door for industry to push back the ban on single-use plastics. In July last year, the European Commission rejected the industry’s request to delay the European directive on single-use plastics. However, multiple bans on single-use plastics and deposit systems have been cancelled or delayed in countries around the world, in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
