The largest brand owners in the world together used an average of 14% post-consumer resin in their packaging last year, a 2 percentage point increase over 2022. | Photka/Shutterstock
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s 2023 report indicated a year-over-year decrease in both virgin and overall plastic use from signatory companies. That came from companies incorporating more post-consumer resin, combined with lower overall consumer demand due to economic challenges.
Use is still up over the 2018 baseline, according to the Global Commitment progress report published Nov. 18, and many signatories are still not on track to hit 2025 goals. But signatory companies are outperforming companies who aren’t part of the group. Companies can voluntarily sign the foundation’s Global Commitment, which sets ambitious 2025 targets and then requires the businesses to publicly report on their progress or lack thereof.
“Over the six years since the Global Commitment launched, signatories have significantly outperformed their peers in tackling plastic waste,” according to the report. “This shows that substantial change is possible and that businesses who haven’t signed up can do, on average, much more than they are doing today.”
For example, signatories reduced their virgin plastic use by 3% since 2018 and increased PCR use by 9 percentage points, up to 14%. The plastic packaging market as a whole, in comparison, increased its virgin use by 8% and increased PCR use by 1 percentage point.
Some 1,000 organizations are signatories to the Global Commitment in some form, but only some of those – major plastics stakeholders, for example – are reporting signatories that release data in these reports.
Businesses representing about 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally, 124 companies, have signed on as reporting signatories. Of that total, 91 are packaged goods companies, packaging producers and retailers; 22 are recycling companies; eight are plastic suppliers; eight are non-compostable raw material producers; and three are compostable raw material producers. Some companies are listed in two categories.
Additionally, 16 governments have reported their progress toward public targets.
In 2023, three more businesses left the commitment: El Corte Ingles, Tupperware and Sidel. Tupperware filed for bankruptcy. According to the report, companies that leave often do so “as a result of being unwilling to fulfill mandatory requirements for participation,” including reporting certain data.
Largest virgin plastic reduction in years
Unlike the prior year, in 2023 both total and virgin plastic use decreased among signatories. The virgin weight decrease of 4% was the largest yearly reduction since 2018, the report added, due to higher use of PCR and market conditions reducing demand.
Overall, brands used 13 million metric tons of plastic packaging in 2023, down from 13.2 million metric tons the year before. Further, 1.8 million metric tons were recycled resin, either pre- or post-consumer, up slightly from 2022’s 1.6 million metric tons.
Even so, the report added, virgin plastic use has increased by 7% over the 2018 baseline. And although about 60% of signatories reduced their virgin plastic use between 2018 and 2023, only 32% have hit or are on track to hit their targets.
The report also touched on the growing trend of companies revising sustainability goals, either by extending the deadline or reducing the goal, “reflecting the difficulties in tackling key hurdles.”
It called for more collective action, including scaling reuse, finding alternative solutions to flexible packaging and improving infrastructure by “actively advocating for well-designed, mandatory and fee based EPR schemes.”
PCR use by brand
The following are details on PCR use by worldwide packaged goods companies, broken down by sector and organized from largest user of plastic packaging to smallest:
Beverage companies
The Coca-Cola Company: 17.3% PCR in 2023, up 2.4 percentage points from 2022.
PepsiCo: 9.8% PCR, up 2.5 pp.
Diageo: 22.0% PCR, up 15.2 pp.
Cosmetics
L’Oréal: 32.0% in 2023, up 5.5 percentage points from 2022.
Food and snacks
Nestlé: 9.3% in 2023, up 1.6 percentage points from 2022.
Danone: 14.6%, up 2.7 pp.
Mars, Incorporated: 1.5%, up 0.5 pp.
Mondelez International: 1.4%, up 0.4 pp.
Kellogg Company: 0.4%, down 2.1 pp.
FrieslandCampina Nederland: 9.7%, up 6.9 pp.
Household and personal care
Unilever: 21.8% in 2023, up 1.0 percentage points from 2022.
Henkel AG & Co.: 20.4%, up 5.0 pp.
Colgate-Palmolive Company: 17.8%, up 3.2 pp.
SC Johnson: 25.0%, up 3.0 pp.
Essity AB: 10.0%, no change.
Companies should advocate “consistently across geographies, including at the international level,” the report added, in order to create an “ambition loop” where government policy and business action mutually reinforce each other.
PCR increases at familiar pace, but not fast enough
The reported increase of 2 percentage points in PCR use in 2023 is consistent with prior years, which have increased at nearly the same rate. If brands want to meet the 2025 goal of 26% PCR use by 2025, up from 14% in 2023, it will require a significant and rapid increase, the report added.
Some sectors are making more progress than others; the cosmetic industry is averaging 31% PCR in packaging, for example, while the food sector is averaging 10%, largely due to strict food-contact regulations.
In 2023, about 70% of packaging was considered reusable, recyclable or compostable in practice, up from 66% the year before. And 83% was designed for recycling, up slightly.
However, getting to 100% “will require significant improvements in infrastructure and/or major packaging portfolio shifts,” the report noted.
Hitting global targets will take policy and business leadership
The foundation’s 2025 goals are to decrease virgin plastic use by 18% by weight; decrease PVC and EPS packaging by 100% by weight; increase reuse; increase the share of packaging that is reusable, recyclable or compostable to 100%, which would be a 37-percentage-point increase; increase PCR use to 26%, which would be a 21-percentage-point increase; and increase production of recycled plastic by 290%.
Comparing 2023 to the baseline year, signatories decreased virgin plastic use by 3%; decreased use of EPS by 29% and PVC by 1%; lost ground on reuse, which fell by 0.3 percentage points to 1.3%; increased the share of packaging that is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 7 percentage points; increased use of PCR by 9 percentage points; and increased production of recycled plastic by 74%. Reuse fell by 0.3 percentage points to 1.3%.
It is more difficult to reduce PVC use due to its medical applications, the report noted. And when it comes to reuse systems, since 2020, 64% of signatories launched reuse pilots – but that has not translated into scaled reuse models, and so it isn’t reflected in the report.
“In addition, the current reuse metric does not show the full picture of reusable packaging,” the report added. “A more comprehensive reuse metric to better reflect the successes and challenges is currently being developed.”
Overall, “the road ahead is clear: binding global policy and accelerated business action are both essential to get the job done,” the report concluded.
A version of this story appeared in Plastics Recycling Update on Nov. 20.