U.S. Plastics Pact Reports Status Relative to 2025 Targets

The U.S. Plastics Pact, a consortium working to bring about a circular economy for plastics, has released its annual report. The report compiles data for 2021 from 101 businesses, governments, and nonprofit organizations including some of the most prominent consumer brands. Members of the pact, called activators, represent 5.9 million tons of plastic packaging in the U.S. market.

The U.S. Plastics Pact, launched in August 2020, has set four targets for 2025:

Define a list of unnecessary or problematic materials and take steps to eliminate.

The U.S. Plastics Pact’s list of unnecessary and problematic materials was released in January 2022. As of 2021, 14% of packaging marketed by the activators contains one or more of the materials.

The U.S. Plastics Pact’s list of problematic materials takes into consideration how a product is used. For example disposable plastic straws provided free with a beverage are considered problematic/unnecessary, straws sold directly to consumers are not.
Photo Credit: Getty

All plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

Clorox refillable household cleaner won a Sustainable Packaging Innovation Award.
Photo Credit: Matt Stonecash

36% of plastic packaging brought to market by the activators was reusable, recyclable, or compostable. The pact uses a definition of recyclable which requires that a system be in place for recycling at scale, so materials that theoretically can be recycled but in practice are not, do not qualify. Sustainable Packaging Innovation Awards were used to recognize new package designs in four categories: recyclability, refill, compostability, and reuse.

Take steps toward recycling or composting 50% of packaging.

A baseline U.S. recycling rate of 13.3% for packaging was calculated based on data from the EPA, the Association of Plastics Recyclers, and the National Association for PET Container Resources.

Achieve 30% recycled or bio-based content in plastic packaging.

The average recycled content used by U.S. Plastic Pact activators was 8%. The report notes that activators are focusing on recycled content, as none have identified a responsibly sourced bio-based alternative.

Tracking Progress Toward the Four Plastics Packaging Targets

Activators of the U.S. Plastics Pact will continue to evaluate and report their progress annually through the World Wildlife Fund’s Resource Footprint Tracker.

“We must continue to push the boundaries of collaboration and transparency to build the circular economy for plastics packaging.” says Emily Tipaldo, executive director of the U.S. Plastics Pact.