In the natural world, every bit of waste is a food or input for another creature or process. Contrast that with plastics in our society. Almost all our plastics litter, pollute, and harm creatures and habitats.
Starting a few years ago, the European Union (EU) launched major efforts to handle the 28 million tons of plastic waste it generates annually. Its approach is to create a circular plastics regime. The EU is already driving investments and innovations toward circular solutions in many sectors of its economy, lessening their carbon footprint and, according to experts, making them increasingly competitive worldwide. A circular economy is one in which products and materials are kept in use along their entire life, from design and manufacture to reuse or recycling — much like with natural systems. Europe’s closed-loop plastics system means every product will be designed and made so that it and its components will be used for as long as possible, repaired or refurbished if broken, and recycled into secondary raw materials multiple times without losing quality.
Plastics is big business, employing 1.5 million people in Europe and generating $410 billion in 2019. By pushing money and innovation into the design, use, and recyclability of plastic products, the EU was able to set industry-wide targets: All plastic packaging in the EU market must be recyclable by 2030. Starting this year, companies will no longer be allowed to dump plastic waste on poorer countries. The EU has just this year banned the sale of 10 plastic products — those that most commonly litter its beaches and shores, including cutlery, straws, plates and Styrofoam food and beverage containers. By 2030, there will be a total ban on throwaway plastics, a comprehensive reuse system for all other plastics, and a large and potentially lucrative continental market for recycled plastics.