Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
Every week, we publish a roundup of the top developments in plastics and sustainability – from regulatory changes to company news.
This week’s highlights:
- Canada is banning the manufacture and import of single-use plastics by the end of 2022, as part of a global effort to reduce plastic waste. The ban will cover items like checkout bags, cutlery, straws, and food-service ware made from or containing plastics that are hard to recycle, and will come into effect in December of this year. (CNBC)
- LATAM Airlines Group has pledged to eliminate all single-use plastics in its operations by 2023. The airline has launched several initiatives towards this aim, including changing onboard materials, incorporating more sustainable elements, and implemeting recycling and reuse programmes across the Group. (Simple Flying)
- The chemical industry is seeing more “green deals,” as companies pay increasing attention to how mergers and acquisitions affect their environmental goals. A growing number of mutual funds managed by institutional investors are evaluating the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of the companies they hold stock in. As a result, executives are allocating a significant share of their capital spending toward sustainability and are making environmental performance part of their M&A strategy. (Chemical & Engineering News)
