Steering the transition towards a sustainable plastic industry

Abstract

With less than a third of plastic waste recycled, the plastic pollution problem continues to grow. However, plastic has become a vital material used to improve the quality of life around the world. It is therefore key that a circular economy of plastics is created where all plastic is recycled and reused. The main research objective of this paper is to analyse the largest opportunities and barriers that influence the transition towards a circular plastic industry. Two cases are used to obtain an in-dept understanding of the industry: fast-moving consumer goods and slow-moving consumer goods. The data has been obtained by qualitative methods, using interviews with experts and organizations in the plastic value chain as the main source of knowledge. The results show that on the one hand, a pressure needs to be created in the form of policies that drive the use of recycled content throughout the market. On the other hand, niche-innovations, such as chemical recycling, that could provide an outcome to current bottlenecks are still underdeveloped. In order to promote the development of promising niche-innovations, safe spaces need to be created that allow for experimentation and upscaling.