As you read this, the year 2023 is almost on its last legs, edging towards the end. And what a year it’s turned out to be.
There’ve been extreme, climate-related events, including ice storms in the southern United States, wildfires in Chile and Canada, record-high heatwaves across Asia, storms and flooding in Europe and Asia, and droughts. Deadly earthquakes occurred, amongst others, in Turkey, Nepal and Afghanistan. The year saw record levels of acute food insecurity; one war continued, another ignited. Inflation, the high cost of energy and rising interest rates remained a concern. The socioeconomic effects of three years of pandemic are still being felt. In Europe, the shortage of skilled labour has caused production constraints in sectors such as manufacturing and industry. The list goes on (and on) - but, enough already.
I believe we can all agree that 2023 has been an exceptionally challenging year.
But there was also positive news. For example, the first ‘zero’ draft of a global plastics treaty was compiled, laying out in very broad lines what might ultimately be included in any legally binding agreement to end the leakage of plastic waste into the environment by 2040. And by the time you read this, the third round of Plastics Treaty negotiations will have been and gone, hopefully furthering the progress towards the envisioned outcomes.
Obviously, the formulation of such a treaty is far from straightforward given the dichotomy between the countries wanting to limit the production of more plastics and the petrochemical and the plastics industry, who champion recycling as the solution to plastic waste. Technologies such as chemical recycling are being put forward to help bridge the gap – after all, by reducing the amount of virgin material used and converting waste into a resource, chemical recycling, like mechanical recycling, cuts two ways. While it’s a nascent – and controversial – industry, it has seen tremendous development in the past few years. The Chemical Recycling Tracker elsewhere on this site meticulously follows the activity in this area – and is updated and refined on a regular basis.
2023 was also a year in which sustainable packaging continued to gain momentum. On that topic, this issue of Sustainable Plastics includes a case study for a medical device package for which one of the requirements was recyclability; a partnership aimed at bottle-to-bottle circularity; and an interview with Paul Antoniadis, of good natured Products – a pioneer company with an inspirational name in the sustainable packaging space that understands that transitions are never easy. “We're very much concentrated on making it easy and affordable for businesses and consumers…to take that first step,” he said. “To solve real business problems while improving their environmental and human health impacts.”
Isn’t that exactly what sustainability is about?