Plastic Packaging: How connecting the plastic value chain will deliver long lasting changes

The Telegraph Sustainability Summit held on Thursday 21st March brought together leading brands to connect the plastic value chain to promote long lasting change and embrace the commercial opportunities to be gained from resource efficiency. Many big brands including H&M, Ikea, Sainsbury’s and Braskem shared openly how their brands have evolved to be more resource efficient. Giorgina Waltier, Sustainability Manager at Swedish fashion brand H&M, explained to the summit H&M’s stringent sustainability targets: by 2015, she said, H&M will use only recyclable, compostable and reusable plastic. At M&S the focus was on reducing plastic packaging from its food items, Louise Nichols, corporate head of food sustainability and packaging at M&S communicated a significant and short-term target set by the retailer to remove 1000 tonnes of plastic packaging from it’s shelves within 12months. Head of Circular Economy, innocent drinks Caroline Reid, shared their journey to decouple the plastics they use from virgin oil sources and help towards the growing concern of global warming.

Overall, the message was that plastic has a purpose and is useful and has contributed to solving problems as well as protecting business assets. That said, more consideration must be given the source of the polythene material, utilise sustainable and renewable sources such as GreenPE as well as recycled content. Finally designing a product for recycling and improving recycling efforts to keep this valuable resource in the chain and out of the environment.

If you want to learn more about the topics discussed at the Plastics Summit, here are links to more content:

GreenPE

Closed Loop Recycling