Last century, plastic emerged as a revolutionary material. Celebrated for its versatility and cost-efficiency, it was the solution to countless industrial problems. Today, we’re producing more plastics than ever before. We’re pushing out a staggering 430 million tons every year and do not show any signs of slowing down.

Plastics are now found everywhere, from the peaks of Mount Everest to the depths of the Mariana Trench. They’ve even entered our bodies. In fact, studies show that an average person consumes about five grams of microplastics a week – roughly the weight of a credit card.

To deal with the problem, we definitely need to decrease the production rate. But there are also other things we can do to stifle the alarming trends. The main thing is to rethink the lifecycle of plastics and align the material with a sustainable future.

So, without further ado, here are four requirements that are necessary to make plastic material a little more planet-friendly.

1. Go bio, go waste… or go home

From a climate perspective, plastic production is super unsustainable. Almost all plastics are made from fossil raw materials, and the production and waste phases release about two billion tonnes of greenhouse gases into the air.

It’s no secret that one of the key environmental issues of our time is to move away from fossil resources. One way to do that is to go bio. Biobased material has a much lower carbon footprint and is therefore a much better alternative in this sense. Other benefits of many biobased plastics are environmental properties such as biodegradability and compostability, which are crucial to combat plastic waste build-up in the environment.

“We need to find ways to get rid of the waste or make use of it”

However, there are some issues concerning biobased materials that are worth considering. The issue of land use, for example. Production of raw materials for biobased plastics potentially competes with food production, and geographical aspects may affect the sourcing of these raw materials. There are, therefore, many aspects that need to be considered when it comes to biobased materials. 

Another alternative is to use plastic waste, which is, unfortunately, abundant in our environment. We need to find ways to get rid of the waste or make use of it. One way is to create new plastics from recycled waste. Recycled materials could have a huge climate role to play since it is an important route towards materials with less climate impact.

To make this transition happen, the preference for raw material sources needs to change. Today, virgin material from fossil sources is much cheaper than biobased or recycled material. This is a big (and unfair) obstacle. The difference in lifecycle environmental impact must be reflected in the price, with fossil materials carrying the external climate costs.

A fossil fee (or tax) would facilitate the switch to more climate-friendly raw materials. For this to work, the fee would need to target the fossil raw material itself rather than specific applications.

2. All plastics should be circular

Consumer products are today designed for a use-and-discard system — not for a circular system. This creates big problems for recycling. Adding insult to injury, recycling systems also vary dramatically between countries, regions, and even municipalities.

To achieve circularity in plastic production, the products should be designed for circularity. Recyclability must be an intrinsic property of all consumer products. Harmonised recycling systems will enable recycling and ensure that it can be done on a large scale. This harmonisation should not only include the specific materials, but also new standards on handling, sorting, and recycling technologies.

Solving the Gordian Knot of effective recycling is a huge undertaking and will not be solved easily. Nevertheless, it is absolutely necessary. Without pretending to present a complete solution, here are three important features to initiate the transition to a more effective recycling system (on an EU level):

• Harmonised EU regulation on the recyclability of consumer products, ensuring that all products are designed to fit the recycling system
• Defined recycling schemes on an EU level that define materials, requirements and processes
• Limitation on the number of plastic polymers allowed to be used in products in order to facilitate a more easily adoptable system

3. Clean materials free from harmful chemicals

The plastic materials of today are filled with thousands of different additives. The problem? Many of them are hazardous. These harmful substances contribute to chemical pollution which, together with climate change and biodiversity loss, is part of the so-called triple planetary crisis.

Plastics will never be sustainable as long as hazardous chemicals are added to them. Not even in recycled material. Circulating materials with harmful substances increases the exposure of these chemicals to both humans and nature, further exacerbating the problem.

What is needed to achieve clean plastic materials free from harmful substances? First of all, tight control of which substances are allowed in plastics, especially in close-to-human products like packaging and food contact material. This is best achieved by a strict chemicals legislation, ensuring contamination-free material cycles.

“By 2050, plastic production is predicted to reach a mind-blowing 1 billion tons“

Increased transparency along the value chain is also needed. To make knowledge transfer easier, increased information demands, for example increased requirements on Safety Data Sheets, are crucial. This would improve the transparency of both chemical content and material cycles.

4. Slow things down…

When surplus is the mindset and things are designed to be used and discarded, the mountain of plastic waste gets bigger each day. By 2050, plastic production is predicted to reach a mind-blowing 1 billion tons. This is far from sustainable. The amount of new virgin material being produced must be reduced and the rate at which we push it out must slow down. 

This is why future plastic materials must be designed for reuse, as well as for remanufacturing and refurbishing. Extending the lifetime of products and materials will reduce the need for new virgin materials, and take off some of the pressure on recycling systems and capacities.

Regulation will be necessary to push for this change. The effect of switching to biobased or recycled material will be an increased cost of raw material which, in turn, will lead to an added interest in using the materials in the loop to their full extent. To complement recycling operations, systems for reuse must also be established.