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“Our planet is suffocating with plastic.”
Unfortunately, this urgent warning from the United Nations is no exaggeration. Consumers around the world buy one million plastic bottles every day, equivalent to 400 million tons of plastic waste each year. Half of the plastic is used once and then thrown away. Today, less than one-seventh of his global plastic packaging (14%) is collected for recycling.
But plastic pollution is more than just an environmental problem. It’s also a business issue. Organizations around the world are under pressure from many quarters to close the gap between what they can and are doing to promote sustainable practices, especially when it comes to plastic pollution.
In 2022, the United Nations passed a resolution on plastic manufacturing and recycling as a first step towards an internationally binding instrument. The United Nations Plastics Convention promotes a circular economy, an approach that keeps materials and products in circulation for as long as possible to help solve global challenges such as climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. It’s part of a global effort.
The plastic contract is not theoretical. It will be realized by 2024. And already, forward-thinking organizations in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) are seeing the drive towards a circular economy as more than just a compliance obligation.
For APJ’s sustainability leaders, our commitment to the environment provides an opportunity to differentiate from our competitors by developing a business model that puts sustainability at the core of our growth strategy. Such companies now limit plastic pollution both downstream by collecting and recycling plastics and upstream by sourcing sustainable materials.
Some of these companies are now drawing inspiration from sustainability innovators outside of APJ, developing products designed to be reused and recycled, based on a deep understanding of their behavior. By doing so, we are demonstrating how to get even better results from circular economy strategies. throughout the supply chain and in production and sales. Business model redesign
Mohawk, the world’s largest flooring company, is carefully redesigning its business model to reduce plastic pollution.
The US-based company once made its carpets entirely out of pure polyester.Today, Mohawk makes carpet fiber entirely from plastic bottles, with approximately 6.6 million plastic bottles used each year. It has been. In his most recent year, Mohawk saved him $4.3 million in landfill and disposal costs, as well as the cost of treating water and releasing it into the public sewage system.
Mohawk relies on sustainability partnerships with leading retail partners such as Home Depot, Lowe’s and ACE Hardware. Jana Kanyadan, SVP and CIO of Mohawk Industries, said: We must inform end consumers about our products and reach out to them. ”
Many organizations view consumers as enthusiastic participants and advocate for reducing plastic pollution. With audience help, Chilean vending machine startup Algramo is changing its model to eliminate single-use plastics and incorporate reusable packaging so people pay for products, not packaging. encouraged.
Customers who order pet food, laundry detergent, and many other items through the Algramo app place their vending machine purchases in their bins. Algramo is currently testing its model in New York and Chile and aims to lead the “Evolution of Refills” demonstrating ingenuity to drive a circular economy.
Identify problem areas with technology
While the corporate plastic tax focuses on how products are made and disposed of, upcoming regulations will focus on the use of plastics, their material flows, and how customers use, reuse, recycle and recover plastics. We may impose more obligations with respect to
To stay ahead of their competitors, some companies are increasing their own responsibility for the use of plastics in their sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution functions.
Fashion retail is he one of the most polluting industries in the world. 87% of fiber input ends up in landfills. Stephanie Benedetto understands how retailers are bogged down by ambitious goals to reach 100% sustainability by 2030. We helped vendors identify valuable waste in their supply chains. Otherwise, incinerate or bury.
Lack of data and monitoring gaps along the lifecycle of plastics have long hindered companies from reducing their plastic consumption. Queen of Raw helps fashion retailers collect such data through artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain to identify problem spots and reduce plastic pollution.
With increasing pressure to combat plastic pollution, companies can only thrive by understanding the types and amounts of plastics they use and their place in the value chain. Organizations pursuing a circular economy strategy must combine data transparency and collaboration in both upstream and downstream supply chains. There is also an increasing need to align environmental, sustainability and governance outcomes, including plastic pollution, with financial processes and decision-making.
Doing good for the planet is a business imperative. Sustainability is increasingly linked to profitability. And companies capitalizing on rising consumer demand and government mandates to reduce and reuse plastics may find their major competitors ignoring the signs. Competitors may not only be throwing plastic into landfills, but their profits as well.
See how the circular economy can help manage the impact of the linear economy on the planet, people and businesses. Learn more about how to calculate Extended Producer Responsibility Duty, Plastics Tax, and Corporate Duty to optimize material selection.
We invite you to participate in SAP’s Sustainability Survey (sapforyou.com).
