Page 59 - Plastics News July 2024

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

to local policy changes like higher tipping fees for When Ajit Perera, vice president of post-consumer
waste than for recycling. More broadly, he said the operations at Talco Plastics in California, joined the
recycling industry needs to tell its story in a better state’s advisory board for its recycled-content law,
and more unified way, echoing comments from Al- he was the only plastics person in the room.
exander and others.
“Everyone wants to demonize plastics, let’s not use
“It is showing what happens to the product, show- plastics, let’s go to something different, paper, so on
ing what a recycled material does versus a virgin and so forth,” he said of his fellow board members.
material,” he said, adding that he objects to the pe- “And I said my mantra here is actually to take the
jorative term “downcycling” when his company turns devil out of the plastics.
a single-use item into one that can last decades.
“I think we should all be passionate and we should
“We tend to look for a silver bullet. Chemical recy- push the word out that plastic is here to stay, and it
cling’s going to save us all, some EPR is going to can be only sustained if we recycle it,” Perera went
save us all, right? And it’s not,” King said. “It’s col- on. “It’s up to us to go out there and breach.”
laboration, it’s working together.” Source – Resource Recycling

Major investors sign up to address

plastic pollution

A group of 70 institutional investors, including sever- pollution crisis,” Kozlowski added.
al pension funds such as the Local Authority Pension
Fund Forum (LAPFF), Batirente, Strathclyde Pension The urgency of the issue is underscored by some
Fund, VBV Vorsorgekasse, and Dutch schemes PMT, alarming predictions made by the group. Plastic
PME and Stichting Pensioenfonds voor Huisartsen, production is predicted to triple by 2060, and life-
are calling on companies to tackle plastic pollution cycle emissions expected to double, accounting for
and fossil fuel dependence. 4.5% of global emissions. Additionally, plastic poly-
mers contain toxic chemicals, resulting in health im-
The group, which also includes Legal & General In- pacts such as diabetes, obesity, fertility issues, and
vestment Management, Pictet Group, Nordea Asset cancers.
Management, Achmea Investment Management, Institutional support
Robeco, MN, Abrdn, Rockefeller Asset Management,
Rathbones Group, and Storebrand Asset Manage- The initiative comes at a time when investors have
ment, has signed a statement issued by financial recognised the risks posed by the plastics economy,
think tank Planet Tracker. while determined to ensure alignment of business
practices with global sustainability goals such as the
“Petrochemical companies are the source of the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kunming-Montre-
raw materials plastics are made of. They take the al Global Biodiversity Framework.
fossil fuel feedstocks and turn them into the poly-
mers which are then melted, extruded and formed The collective statement urges investors and their
into the plastics other corporations use,” said Planet representatives with exposure to the plastics value
Tracker’s head of engagement, Nicole Kozlowski. chain to request petrochemical companies produc-
ing plastic polymers to disclose and define strate-
“Petrochemical companies are firmly embedded in gies, address toxic polymers and chemicals by com-
the plastics value chain and therefore in the plastic mitting to eliminating hazardous chemicals in their

July 2024 PLASTICS NEWS 61