Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
This week’s highlights:
- ExxonMobil – one of the world’s top plastic producers – is leading the petrochemicals industry’s fight against plans to limit the production of plastic. The industry push comes ahead of UN talks in Canada this week to develop the first legally binding treaty to limit plastic pollution. An Exxon representative said the problem is pollution, not plastics, noting that alternatives to plastic packaging could have a higher emissions footprint. The company produced 11.2 million metric tonnes of polyethylene last year and operates a chemical recycling plant for plastic in Texas. (Financial Times)
- A group of 160 financial firms have urged governments to agree a treaty to end plastic pollution that would help spur private sector action, ahead of the upcoming round of global talks in Canada. The group, which includes the UK’s biggest investor, called for the treaty to set an objective for all public and private finance to be consistent with the goal of eliminating plastic pollution. It also urged companies to assess and disclose plastic-related risks and opportunities; governments to set more clear policies and targets for plastic waste and recycling; and for more private investment to be directed at ending plastic pollution. (Reuters)
- India is choosing to “regulate,” not ban, single-use plastic ahead of the UN meeting seeking a solution to regulate plastic pollution. India is in favour of “regulating” and not outright eliminating single-use plastic, according to an analysis of various countries’ public negotiating positions by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a not-for-profit based in New Delhi. In 2022, India banned 19 categories of single-use plastics through the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules adopted the year prior. (The Hindu)