Businesses back 2030 agenda to drive change in plastics system

• New report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation outlines a bold 2030 agenda for market transformation

• The 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business reflects on a decade of progress with practical roadmap to tackle plastic waste and build a circular economy

• Leading businesses back the agenda – call on others to step up and join

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is urging more companies to back global efforts against plastic waste with a bold new action plan setting the direction for the next five years.

The 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business calls on businesses to work together, not just on their own, to drive market transformation. Reflecting on a decade of progress, it defines what’s needed to tackle plastic waste and build a circular economy

, setting out three key levers:

• Collective advocacy by businesses to help shape ambitious, effective policy;

• Collaborative action to share risks, costs, and innovation to tackle barriers; 

• Aligned individual action to keep pushing boundaries within businesses today to inspire policy and market change.

By acting early and collectively, leading businesses will be in a position to shape regulation, lower transition costs, and speed up progress through shared advocacy and innovation.

The evidence-based report highlights the meaningful progress that has been made by a pioneering group of companies – representing a fifth of the world’s plastic packaging market – through their backing of the Global Commitment initiative. 

Collectively, signatories have avoided 14 million tonnes of virgin plastics, the equivalent of 1.8 trillion plastic bags or saving one barrel of oil every second. They have also tripled their use of recycled content and eliminated billions of problematic packaging items. 

But the Foundation highlights major challenges that still exist, with 80% of the market yet to step forward, and on average, lagging behind those who have. In addition, even the most ambitious businesses face systemic barriers they cannot overcome alone, such as scaling reuse

models, tackling flexible packaging waste, and building effective collection and recycling infrastructure.

Its 2030 Agenda calls for mainstreaming proven solutions, addressing systemic barriers – from scaling reuse and tackling flexible packaging waste to building effective collection and recycling infrastructure – and creating enabling government policy that aligns incentives with circular outcomes.

“Many business leaders ask me what comes next. My answer is simple: don’t wait. The companies that act now can help shape effective policies and make circular solutions the new normal,” said Rob Opsomer, Executive Lead for Plastics and Finance at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

“By working together, they’ll cut transition costs and build resilience in a fast-changing world. They can make what once seemed impossible not only possible but ultimately inevitable.”

Even as the context in which companies set public targets has become more complex, businesses representing 20% of the global plastic packaging market – including Amcor, Borealis, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, L’Oréal, Nestlé, SC Johnson, PepsiCo, TOMRA, and Unilever – are stepping up and reaffirming their support to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Commitment 2030, one of three pillars of the agenda. 

This marks the first wave of sign-ups, with the Foundation calling on the rest of the market to get behind the effort over the next 12 months. 

Launched in 2018 by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment Programme, the Global Commitment became the world’s largest voluntary effort to tackle waste and pollution. 

In addition to signatories reaffirming their support for the Global Commitment, more than 700 businesses are working towards the vision within local contexts, through the Plastics Pacts. And more than 300 businesses and other organisations are collectively advocating for a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution through the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty. 

Commenting on the Foundation’s 2030 Agenda, Antonia Wanner, Chief Sustainability Officer at Nestlé, said:

“Nestlé will continue to contribute towards the common vision of a circular economy for packaging. Building on years of effort to evolve our packaging, we look forward to collective action on the 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business, working with the Foundation and value chain partners. Together we aim to overcome systemic barriers by building broader systems and a policy landscape for the circular economy.”

Pablo Costa, Global Head of Packaging, Digital and Transformation at Unilever, said:

“Ending plastic pollution and keeping plastic in circulation requires innovation, infrastructure and enabling policy, combined with focused, collective action and advocacy right across the plastics value chain as identified in this 2030 Plastics Agenda.”

Apply here to the Global Commitment today, or for further information, please visit www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/2030-plastics-agenda-for-business

Notes to editors

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is an international charity accelerating the transition to a circular economy – one that is globally resilient and thrives within planetary boundaries.

Launched in 2010, we work with global leaders to mobilise bold, evidence-based business and policy action that transforms how markets operate, and which deliver circular economy solutions at scale. 

The current system for making, using, and disposing of plastics is a primary driver of waste and pollution. By addressing today’s most pressing challenges, our goal is to deliver systemic change in the areas of plastics and packaging, critical minerals, and retail by 2030. Further information: ellenmacarthurfoundation.org | LinkedIn