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:
- Sony will eliminate plastic in its packaging starting next year, becoming the first major Japanese electronics company to move toward eliminating plastic in packaging. The EU decided in 2020 to ban such use of plastic by 2030 and shift all packaging to reusable and recyclable materials. China also decided in 2020 to phase out plastic in single-use tableware and other uses. In Japan, a law took effect in April encouraging companies to rely less on single-use plastics. (Nikkei Asia)
- UN agencies at the COP 27 climate summit urged action to tackle the link between plastic waste and carbon emissions. The world should embrace reusable, biodegradable and compostable plastic substitutes, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s head of the international trade and commodities division, Miho Shoritori. She argued that tariff and non-tariff measures should be adjusted to support a transition to plastic alternatives, adding: “The future is not plastic. The future is plastic substitutes.” (UNCTAD)
- Emissions-intensive industries like aluminum, steel, plastics and cement are at risk of missing carbon budgets and impacting international net-zero goals, according to a new report by Zero Waste Europe and Eunomia Research and Consulting. The authors cite the use of unproven technologies and not enough investment geared toward the decarbonization of energy as key issues in improving materials production, which accounts for a quarter of the world’s emissions. (Environment + Energy Leader)
