Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2022 - 11

opinion
responsibility, accountability
and activity around packaging
metrics, businesses are increasingly
looking to establish quality
packaging data resources. Using
bespoke services ensures quality
and accessibility and facilitates
expert interrogation to inform
critical business decisions.
Such is the data burden facing
time-poor businesses that
many now opt to pay the tax as
it is cheaper than gathering the
evidence; hence we already see
misrepresentation of the demand
for rpolymers. The evidence collection
has to be simplified to encourage
full participation.
Consumers' understanding
of their environmental impact
has ballooned in recent years.
While it is heart-breaking to
see a small fraction of industry
stakeholders, policymakers and
people proactively engaged in
concrete mitigation activities,
too many pay lip service and offer
sustainability pledges without
substance.
At Ecoveritas, we believe that
the future of business sustainability
lies in an authentically
data-driven approach, turning
insight into action. We work with
brands, retailers and manufacturers
of all shapes and sizes to
improve packaging sustainability
and continue to see first-hand
that collaboration along the entire
value chain is needed.
We must explore
digital DRS
Further incentive comes in the
form of DRS, placing a value on
waste and enabling efficient,
increased material recovery
and better quality for recycling.
Still, we must ensure that higher
recycling rates are justified
regarding the overall carbon
impact of vehicle emissions in
any system.
To avoid serious fraud, the
system needs to be digital in the
labelling and payment systems.
Physical paper tokens and cash
are not suitable for a modern
DRS system. There has to be, as
near as live as possible, reconciliation
between what is going
on the market and what is colAndrew
McCaffrey
lected. And it must be down at
SKU level rather than general
tonnage; otherwise, fraud is a
serious possibility.
Complexities and trade-offs
must be considered or balanced
if businesses navigate
these sustainability challenges.
So, for that very reason, accurate
benchmarking of your
packaging products in terms of
sustainability, cost, and convenience
are vital to understanding
the real opportunity and value
at stake across your product
portfolio.
The packaging sector has
made enormous leaps forward
in terms of sustainability, but it
is apparent that there is much
further to go. But this means
facing how interconnected the
problems are: recognise that
plastic isn't just an isolated
problem but simply the most
visible product of our past
half-century of consumption.
The tired linear take, make,
and waste stream is out, and all
businesses are looking to close
the loop with circular economy
principles. New technologies,
materials and processes have
sizeable contributions, but all
of this must be rolled out alongside
open collaboration, communication,
and consultation
of policies at all levels. People
must be part of the solution,
and the environment must be
ripe for investment.
Andrew McCaffrey is the EPR
Director at Ecoveritas.
Whether it is inhouse, postconsumer,
bottle or chemical
recycling: closing the loop in
a precise and profi table way if
machines are perfectly tuned
for the respective application.
Choose the number one
technology from EREMA when
doing so: over 6500 of our
machines and systems produce
around 14.5 million tonnes of
high-quality pellets like this
every year - in a highly
effi cient and energy-saving
way.
K22 MAIN BOOTH: Hall 9 / Booth C09
OUTDOOR AREA: FG-CE03
2205021ERE_Sustainable Plastics.indd 1
18.05.22 15:50
September/October 2022
11
erema-group.com
http://www.erema-group.com
Sustainable Plastics - September/October 2022

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