Six years ago, the U.S. Plastics Pact launched at a moment of rising concern about plastic waste and growing momentum for voluntary action. Companies across the packaging value chain were making commitments, consumers were demanding change, and collaboration felt like the fastest path toward solutions.
Today, the environment looks very different.
Extended Producer Responsibility laws are now being implemented in multiple states. Companies face growing compliance requirements. Sustainability commitments are under greater scrutiny from investors, regulators, and the public. And even collaborative initiatives like the U.S. Plastics Pact have faced questions about whether this kind of multistakeholder work is still necessary.
It’s a fair question.
But in many ways, the complexity of today’s landscape is exactly why collaboration remains essential.
Before joining the U.S. Plastics Pact, I experienced this complexity firsthand. I worked as a procurement manager responsible for sourcing rigid resin packaging, trying to determine how our packaging could become more sustainable in response to growing concerns about plastic waste.
What I found was confusion.
Different suppliers offered conflicting guidance about recyclability. One expert would say a package needed to change. Another would say it was fine as it was. Industry webinars and technical resources often pointed in different directions. Everyone had advice, but there was little alignment about what the future system should actually look like.
That lack of alignment matters, because transforming the plastics system is an enormous undertaking. It requires redesigning products, building recycling infrastructure, creating reliable demand for recycled materials, and ensuring that the system works for both businesses and communities.
Without shared direction, it becomes nearly impossible to build something that works.
When I first joined a recruitment call with the U.S. Plastics Pact as a potential member, it immediately felt different. The Pact brought together companies, NGOs, government partners, and experts from across the plastics value chain to tackle these challenges together. Participants aligned around shared Targets, committed to reporting on progress, and began developing practical tools to help organizations move toward a circular system.
For the first time, it felt like we had a roadmap.
In the early years, the momentum was strong. Many organizations were eager to collaborate toward the Pact’s 2025 Targets.
But complex systems rarely transform on a five-year timeline.
Since then, the political, legal, and economic landscape around plastics has shifted significantly. New policies are emerging. Companies face growing regulatory requirements. Some organizations face criticism for not moving fast enough, while others face pressure from shareholders to focus more narrowly on financial performance.
These tensions can make collaboration harder—but they also make it more necessary.
A circular economy only works if it works for everyone. Packaging design decisions must align with the capabilities of recycling systems. Communities must be able to collect and process the materials companies place on the market. And there must be strong demand for the recycled materials that come out of the system.
If those pieces do not fit together, recyclables end up in landfills.
That is why the multistakeholder approach remains so important. The U.S. Plastics Pact helps bring together the organizations that design packaging, collect recyclables, process materials, manufacture products, and shape policy. By aligning around a shared vision for the future system, stakeholders can reduce uncertainty and unlock the innovation and investment needed to make circularity work.
High-level commitments alone are not enough. The details matter.
Through collaborative work informed by science and data, the U.S. Plastics Pact develops practical tools to help organizations navigate the transition toward circular packaging. These include position papers on complex technical issues, frameworks for improving the circularity of flexible packaging, and resources such as the Post-Consumer Recycled Content Toolkit that support companies working to increase recycled content in their products.
These tools do not dictate business decisions. Companies retain full independence over how they act.
What the Pact provides, though, is something valuable: a shared vision of the future system and credible guidance to help organizations move toward it.
Transforming the plastics system will require innovation, infrastructure investment, and sustained collaboration across the value chain. That work takes time, and it requires a forum where stakeholders can align on practical solutions.
The public wants to see progress on plastic waste. Companies want clarity on how to move forward. Communities want recycling systems that work.
The U.S. Plastics Pact exists to help bring those interests together.
A circular economy won’t succeed unless the system works—end to end. Companies should (and do) have full independence on their own actions. The voluntary commitment is this: a shared vision and a commitment to work toward it through that independent action. With the right principles and tools in place, companies can navigate today’s complexity and help build a system that is both environmentally and economically sustainable.
