Good intentions fall short: more single-use plastic waste produced than ever before

While the fight against single-use plastic waste continues unabated, a new study reveals that it is still far from being won.

The report, released 6 Feb., is the second edition of the Plastic Waste Makers Index, a project of the Minderoo foundation’s Plastics initiative. The first Index,  published in May 2021, covered 2019 and identified for the first time the companies at the start of the plastics supply chain that are responsible for producing the polymers bound for single-use plastics -  almost all of which are fossil fuel-based. Over half of the world’s single-use plastic waste was found to be directly attributable to just 20 petrochemical companies.
This second edition contains data up to the end of 2021. The findings are, as the report states, ‘deeply troubling’: rather than generating less single-use plastic waste, the world generated more - 6m metric tons more than in 2019, equivalent to roughly an additional kilogram more of mainly fossil fuel-based plastic packaging waste for every human on the planet.
The report provides a useful benchmark for embarking on plastic and climate-related research and shareholder engagement efforts, said Casey Clark, president and Chief Investment Officer of Rockefeller Asset Management. "Investors, regulatory bodies, and civil society have emphasised the need to reduce plastic consumption, increase waste management efforts, and transition to 'circular' modes of living. Even with that backdrop, the global intake of raw virgin materials and single-use plastics continues to rise."

Worryingly, the then Plastic Waste Makers are also the now Plastic Waste Makers, as the composition of the top 100 petrochemical companies with the largest plastic waste footprint in this second edition remains remarkably similar to the first PWMI.
Compared to 2019, however, the petrochemical industry would seem to have become more aware that it needs to address the single-use plastic waste crisis through transition to circular models of plastics production.
The new 2023 Index also contains new estimates of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from single-use plastics. These figures make it clear that single-use plastic is not just a pollution crisis but also a climate one; and as these estimates show, one that single-use plastics producers are also contributing to.
Lifecycle greenhouse gas (Scope 1, 2 and 3) emissions from single-use plastics in 2021 were equivalent to the total emissions of the United Kingdom (450 million metric tons CO₂e).

The report also underscores the need for higher recycling rates. According to the Index, using mechanically recycled plastic waste to create new materials could displace at least half the GHG emissions compared to producing polymers from fossil fuels.
"Recycling has the potential – along with reduce and reuse – to play an important role in solving both the waste and climate crises, but its contribution is currently negligible," the authors write. In fact, the report found that from 2019 to 2021, growth in single-use plastics made from fossil fuels was 15 times that from recycled plastics.

The PWMI 2023 gives a big shout-out to what it sees as two outliers within the petrochemical industry:
Taiwan's Far Eastern New Century - Fenc - and Thailand's Indorama Ventures. Both are firmly committed to recycling and producing recycled polymers at scale - and together, these two alone represent 20% of the global PET bottle-to-bottle recycling capacity. This gives some indication of the clout petrochemical companies can yield in the transition towards a circular plastics economy.
Even for these two companies however, bottle-to bottle, or ‘on par’ recycling constitutes a minority part of their businesses: Indorama Ventures produced 4 m metric tons of virgin PET (94% of its total) and 0.23 m metric tons from on par recycling; Fenc produced 2 M metric tons of PET (89% of its total) and 0.18 M metric tons from on par recycling in 2021.
However, it does make Fenc and Indorama Ventures the only companies to have (meaningfully) established a more sustainable, circular model of polymer production from recycled materials, albeit at a small scale.
It is noteworthy that almost all of the in total 2 M metric tons of global on par recycling was mechanical recycling of PET bottles back into new bottles, an activity engaged in by just six major petrochemical companies around the world.

The new study also identifies three major interventions that could deliver a ‘step change’ in single-use plastic waste and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
In the first place, it calls for a limit on fossil fuel plastic production and consumption, which could be achieved by including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions from plastic polymers in net zero climate targets and strategies and by engaging with investees - or using voting rights - to stop the building of new fossil fuel-based polymer facilities, or divesting.
Second, the use of  plastic products and materials that are designed for circularity and are circulated in practice should be increased. This could be achieved by setting a minimum 20% target by 2030 for recycled versus fossil fuel feedstock in polymer production, and by demanding clear, ambitious and time-bound targets for recycled versus fossil fuel feedstock in polymer production from every producer.
Lastly, plastic leakage to the environment across the lifecycle must be halted, through environmentally sound waste management. This would require investing in or partnering with plastic waste collection, sorting and recycling systems and capacities, with a focus on high-leakage countries. Investors should lend public support to policies to create economic conditions for more investment in plastics collection, sorting and recycling.

These interventions will also need to be supported by disclosure and transparent reporting and  strong governance at every level.
As Dr Andrew Forrest AO, Chairman of Minderoo Foundation, emphasised, "we need a fundamentally different approach that turns the tap off on new plastic production.”
And: “We need a 'polymer premium' on every kilogram of plastic polymer made from fossil fuel. We need financial incentives that encourage re-use and recycling and the build of new, critical infrastructure.”
His conclusion was blunt: "The fossil-fuel giants aren't tackling the problem of plastics – it's the opposite, they're making even more of a product that threatens our people and planet.
If you are an investor in virgin plastics, your hands are dirty. You are knowingly perpetuating a crisis. It is time to change.”

Charles D & Kimman L 2023, Plastic Waste Makers Index 2023, Minderoo Foundation