No Plastic Waste is an initiative dedicated to the elimination of the negative impacts of plastic on individuals and the planet. No Plastic Waste aims to increase transparency across the plastics supply chain. Their reports aid the industry, governments, consumers and investors "make more informed decisions about how plastics are funded, produced, consumed and disposed of".
Plastic Waste Makers Index
No Plastic Waste's Plastic Waste Makers Index explains that single-use plastic accounts for over one third of all plastic manufactured every year and the majority of that plastic is thrown away, an estimate being 130 million tonnes per year. The Index goes on to report that 98% of all plastic produced is made out of virgin fossil fuels - non-recycled plastic produced for the very first time. Exasperating the problem is the fact that only 9% of all plastic produced is then recycled after use, meaning that the remaining plastic is therefore burnt, buried or dumped in our environment.
The Index analyses the end-to-end plastics supply chain in an effort to link single-use plastic waste back to companies that first produce plastic polymers. No Plastic Waste explains that despite the problem of single-use plastic waste is is a worldwide issue, there are a few companies that account for the majority of the world’s production of polymers destined for single-use plastic waste. The report states that 100 companies that produce single-use polymers account shared responsibility for more than 90% of all global plastic waste. Moreover, the report reveals that 20 companies produce 55% of the world's plastic waste.
No Plastic Waste reports that in order to curb the production of virgin fossil fuels and single-use plastic waste, those companies responsible for the production of mass plastic waste need to begin to produce recycled plastic instead. In 2019 only 2% of single-use plastic produced was from recycled plastic or bio-based feedstocks. Despite this, over the next 5 years, it is forecast that the global production of virgin single-use plastic polymers from fossil fuels will increase by 30%.
The report calls for a change. No Plastic Waste encourages great political will and action from governments and policy makers as well as from the companies named in the report itself.
If you want to read the full report by No Plastic Waste, you can find it here.