Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
This week’s highlights:
- The world’s largest online retailer Amazon said it will stop using puffy plastic shipping pillows, in response to pressure from environmentalists to cut down on its use of plastic packaging. The company is close to replacing all of its puffy plastic pillows with recycled paper filler. Amazon says the move is its “largest plastic packaging reduction effort to date” and will avoid the use of almost 15 billion air pillows a year in North America. (New York Times)
- Coca-Cola India has launched affordable small sparkling package (ASSP) bottles with 100% recycled PET (rPET), taking a new step in advancing the circular economy. The company earlier pioneered the introduction of 100% recycled PET (rPET) by beverage industry in India. The bottles will be manufactured by Coca-Cola’s bottling partner, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. (HCCBPL), and will advance the company’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint and promoting environmental responsibility. (The Week)
- Major Chinese asset managers have no plans to phase out fossil fuel investments, according to a new Greenpeace report. After analysing 16 major Chinese asset managers, the environmental organisation said they have invested a combined 267.2 billion yuan ($36.79 bn) in high-carbon sectors and 74 billion yuan in fossil-fuel related areas. Five of the firms accounted for over half of the investment in high-carbon sectors. However, the report said all the asset managers had shown “notable progress” in their climate risk governance. (Reuters)