This presentation discusses the 'why, what and how' of closing the loop on plastics, reducing the risk of valuable materials becoming branded litter in their next life.

1. APPLYING
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
APPROACHES TO
PLASTIC PACKAGING
Susan Graff
Principal and Vice President RRS
Prepared for:
2016 Sustainability Forum
Corporate Citizenship Center
US Chamber of Commerce
Foundation

2. • The Circular Economy in Practice
• Plastic Packaging – Benefits and Risks
• Current Regulatory Context & Waste
Infrastructure
• Why Industry-Led Solutions are a Business
Imperative for Packaging
• Examples of Corporate Leadership
• A Call for Collaboration
APPLYING CIRCULAR ECONOMY APPROACHES TO
PLASTIC PACKAGING
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3. • Plastics are often the
answer…sometimes the only answer..
to package food, medical needs, and
many other products efficiently and
safely
• Drive for efficiency (Sustainability
Principle #1 – use less material) has
produced innovative, lightweight
formats. One Eye Open…
• Efficiency gains are not enough -
Sustainability and The Circular
Economy require Both Eyes
Open…use less new material
PLASTIC PACKAGING:
BENEFITS & RISKS
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4. Use less new material in the Circular Economy
“Reduce, Reuse, Retool” – Bill Gates
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Reduce
Retool
Reuse or Recycle
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Sustainable-Materials-With-Both-Eyes-Open

5. • To shift from “take-make-
waste” linear processes
towards a closed loop
system, we must keep the
molecules in play…to the
greatest extent practical.
• Recovered plastic
packaging has potential
value for new products or
energy.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PLASTIC
PACKAGING?
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6. WHY PLASTICS RECYCLING IS AN IMPORTANT
ELEMENT OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY GLOBALLY
• 21 Mega cities:
populations 13-37
Million
• Landfill crises or
critical landfill
shortages
• Big cities have big
impact and their
crises catalyze
change
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7. 7
Ex. JAKARTA
• 40% is below
sea level;
• Severe flooding
source of
marine debris
Globally 5-13 M
MT/yr. of plastic
waste enter the
ocean
PERMANENT
BRANDED LITTER
A SERIOUS RISK
Sources: Transbogor.co, Jan 22, 2016; Jambecket al, 2015)
WE HAVE A WASTE CRISIS IMPACTING
CLIMATE, HUMAN HEALTH, MARINE POLLUTION

8. REGULATORY RESPONSE IS UNEVEN AND SLOW.
EU IS REGULATED, AND HAS A NEW CIRCULAR
ECONOMY PACKAGE
Major legislative update on packaging and waste proposed 12/15
• Contains action plan and 4 legislative proposals on EU waste policy, including
the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive
Objectives
• Full implementation of the waste hierarchy
• Decrease absolute and per capita waste generation
• Ensure high quality recycling and the use of
recycled waste as a major, reliable source of
raw materials in the EU
• Reinforce EPR
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The Circular Economy
implies reducing
waste to a minimum.
It is not about
recycling for
recycling’s sake.

9. What can a packaging company do to help
realize the circular economy vision?
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1. Continue to drive source reduction and waste
avoidance
2. Collaborate with like-minded companiesaround the
value chain
3. Support existing or emerging national recycling
strategies. In the U.S., accelerate market-driven
solutions

10. INNOVATIVE APPROACHES: AMCOR SOURCE REDUCTION & WASTE
AVOIDANCE YIELDS MULTIPLE SUSTAINABILITY BENEFITS
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creates cascading
environmental savings
throughout
the life cycle
• “Both Eyes Open“ approach to
source reduction and recycling
• Public commitments on greenhouse
gas emissions reduction in
EnviroAction program
• Weight reduction resulting from
downgauging or volume reduction

11. Recycling of packaging - Not an easy equation...
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PACKAGING
RECYCLING
Sorting
efficiency
and quality
Recycling-
ready
packaging
design
Competing
waste
treatment
methods
Collection
infrastruc-
ture
End markets
for
recyclates
Financing systems Legislation
Alternative
treatment
methods
End consumers’attitude
towards recycling
Competition from
virgin materials

12. How can the value chain help increase the
recycling rates of plastic packaging and the
resilience of the recycling sector?
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13. INDUSTRY–LED MATERIAL RECOVERY SOLUTIONS
Value Chain forms basis for identifying shared interests
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14. • We are passionate about pets and the people who love them. We are committed to
continuous environmental improvement . Three platforms:
• In House improvements: lightweighting, new materials, new packaging configurations
• Consumer education: package recycling tool online, How2Recycle label
• Helping to evolve community recycling infrastructure
• We use packaging to protect the product on its way to Fido or Fluffy’s bowl.
• Much of our aluminum, steel, corrugated and paperboard is today recyclable, but plastics are a
problem – particularly flexible plastics as you will see in the next few slides.
• We don’t want landfills to be excavated in 50 years
and our flexible plastic bags, bearing the Purina
name, show up as “permanent branded litter”.
• Many of the other partner organizations have a
similar motivation, and the problem is bigger than
one company, so it makes sense to work in a
research collaboration.
• This is breaking new ground in the pursuit of a
closed loop system for flexible package recycling.
NESTLE PURINA’S MOTIVATION FOR COLLABORATING ON
MATERIALS RECOVERY WITHIN THE VALUE CHAIN
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15. MAJOR EFFORTS IN THE U.S.
6 ELEMENTS OF HEALTHY RECOVERY VALUE CHAIN:
COLLABORATE TO ACHIEVE MARKET DRIVEN SOLUTION
• Dow/FPA
Energy Bag
• ACC- FFRG
• SPI FFBD and
Recycling
Committee
• APR-Film
Committee
• SPC – ILC
• How2Recycle
• ACC/SPC/APR -
WRAP Recycling
Action Program
• SPI Recycling
Committee and
FFBD
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16. THANK YOU !
For more information contact:
Susan Graff | sgraff@recycle.com
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