All Ellen MacArthur Foundation articles
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ArticleWhy do big brands keep missing their sustainability targets?
From Unilever to L’Oréal, multiple big brands are missing and revising their sustainable packaging targets for 2025 – but why? We delve deeper into the commonly cited stumbling blocks, including overambition, underdeveloped infrastructure and regulation, access to recyclate, and consumer behaviour.
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ArticleIndustry reacts to INC-5 as negotiators fail to complete Global Plastics Treaty
PepsiCo, Zero Waste Europe, Reloop, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Greenpeace, WWF, and UNEP are among the industry players commenting on the lack of progress in a Global Plastics Treaty at INC-5. Generally, they commend the vast majority’s unity against alleged “obstructionism”, but highlight gaps in the draft text and express disappointment at further delays in negotiations.
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ArticleBusinesses want ‘concrete outcomes’ over complete consensus at INC-5
The Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty is pushing for an instrument that prioritizes the ambition of most INC-5 negotiators over voluntary measures with universal support.
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ArticleBusinesses seek global rules, steps by sector, and EPR in plastics treaty
As negotiations continue at INC-5 in Busan, the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty calls for a legally binding instrument to set international obligations, take sector-specific action, and enforce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes in a bid to eliminate plastic pollution.
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ArticleColgate-Palmolive doubts recyclability, reusability, or compostability for flexibles by 2025
Colgate-Palmolive cautions that it could miss its target to achieve recyclability, reusability, and compostability across its packaging range by 2025, citing “industry-wide challenges” related to flexible packaging.
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ArticleVoluntary initiatives cannot overcome plastic pollution, says World Economic Forum
At its annual meeting earlier this month, the World Economic Forum emphasized its view that voluntary initiatives are not enough to substantially reduce plastic pollution, instead backing the development of a global Plastics Treaty and encouraging businesses to unite in favour of the cause.
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ArticleWhat did we learn from INC-3 in Nairobi?
As the third meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) draws to a close in Nairobi, the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty has praised the majority of Member States for their positive contribution – but the Ellen MacArthur Foundation states that “limited formal progress” was made to boost intersessional work or expand on the zero draft text ahead of the treaty’s adoption in 2025.
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ArticleUnilever, PepsiCo, and more shape Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s call for scaled-up ‘reuse revolution’
Danone, Nestlé, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, and Unilever have contributed to a new Ellen MacArthur Foundation study suggesting that, if scaled up effectively, returnable packaging can be as economically attractive as single-use alternatives.
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ArticleWhy does INC-3 matter?
Rob Opsomer, Executive Lead of Plastics and Finance at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, urges governments and policymakers not to miss a once-in-a-generation opportunity to establish a bold global treaty to end plastic pollution.
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ArticleGlobal industry remains ‘off track’ despite collaboration to fight plastic pollution, warns Ellen MacArthur Foundation
A new paper from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation suggests that its New Plastics Economy Global Commitment signatories are proving the viability of collaborative progress in fighting plastic pollution, but calls for ‘tougher measures’ to break further ground. Over 1,000 organizations have backed the Global Commitment, led by ...
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ArticleEllen MacArthur Foundation to work with Unilever, PepsiCo and Danone on project to scale returnable packaging
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Initiative is collaborating with reuse partners and experts to model a vision for the future of scaled returnable packaging systems.
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ArticleEllen MacArthur Foundation reacts to latest round of UN plastic treaty negotiations
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has called for the incoming Global Plastics Treaty to establish legally binding global rules and factor in the reduction, redesign, and reuse of plastic materials in response to a second round of negotiations taking place last week.
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ArticleSearchable database for sustainability-minded startups founded by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is launching the Circular Startup Index, a searchable database designed to connect businesses with startups in an effort to encourage investment and work towards a circular economy.
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ArticleNGOs unite to create knowledge exchange network and pursue eradication of plastic pollution
The World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Initiative and WRAP have announced a collaboration set to share knowledge between their global initiatives and encourage global progress in combating plastic pollution.
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ArticleProgress report by Ellen MacArthur Foundation casts doubt on business’ full transition into reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging by 2025
In its Global Commitment progress report for 2022, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation asserts that its target to completely implement reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging by 2025 will ‘almost certainly’ be missed by most business signatories.
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ArticleThe Ellen MacArthur Foundation: Working towards a circular, global vision for plastics
Following the announcement of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund’s partnership to create a business coalition in support of a global plastics treaty, we spoke to Carsten Wachholz, senior policy manager at the Foundation, about the aims of the coalition and its goals for the future.
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From our sponsorsHow can we make extended producer responsibility a reality?
Ignacio Gavilan, Sustainability Director at The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) and Sander Defruyt, Lead of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Initiative, outline the ongoing work of their respective organisations on extended producer responsibility schemes, and explain the key role these schemes play in a circular economy for packaging.
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Article‘We need composting, but compostable packaging is still single-use’
Compostable packaging is popularly seen as an answer to plastic pollution, but while it has a role to play in a circular economy, it is not a silver bullet. Preventing waste in the first place should be top priority, says Laura Collacott, freelance editor at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
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ArticleThe Ellen MacArthur Foundation reports on ‘specific and urgent actions’ needed to meet flexible packaging goals
A new report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation covers the “urgent actions” required by both businesses and policymakers to facilitate the transition to a circular economy for flexible packaging – with an intensification of measures needed across the flexibles value chain if it is to meet some of the targets already set.
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ArticleCreating a framework for the designers of the circular economy
When Joe Iles joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the framework of the circular economy was still in its infancy. Now, this model has become much more central to the way that businesses and consumers operate, and the Foundation has been at the centre of that transition.