PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2021

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 03/21 www.petpla.net 22 What does it mean to move to a circular economy in 2021? by Lucia Buffoni, Marketing Manager at Repi 2020 is over, 2021 has been invoked so much and by so many countries around the world - and now? Unfortunately, it seems that the pandemic has made it through the year without too many problems and continues to bother us and affect our lives. But the resources called in, at all levels, by the struggle against Covid will be lethal, this time for the virus itself. This is what we hope the most, and according to The Economist, we have chance that “the decade could yet roar.” If we talk of safety, plastics and packaging pop up. In such an emer- gency contingency, plastics have proved once more to be the most reliable and affordable solution for personal protection. The pandemic has challenged everyone’s lifestyle, habits, and daily life, even of those who are fighting for a reduction when not a ban of plastics. Many sustain- ability-conscious people found them- selves choosing single-use plastic items, such as disposable wipes and sanitary protective devices, but also plastic bottles containing hand sanitis- ers up to takeaway food containers and single serve drinks packaging. If we look at the world consump- tion rates of 2020, single use pack- aging is at a record high from north to south and this will last for a while, together with the demand of plastic disposable wipes, gloves, masks, etc. This increase is challenging a lot the collection and recycling systems, which however are demonstrating to be resilient, keeping up. In such a context the best thing we can hope for, is to take the opportunity to keep pushing the development of a circular economy of which of course plastics recycling is the best example. Now more than ever the solution seems not to be the elimination of plastics, but a systems-level approach on a global scale to improve collection and recycling. Let us remain on the concept of circular economy. Reaching a circular economy means structuring econo- mies on the virtuous closed loop of make – use – recycle in which every product is designed to be used and then disposed leaving no traces, it means being re-used to generate other products and so on. All good so far - but is this really the full picture? I mean if we recall the primary goal of a circular economy, that is to cut CO 2 emissions as main cause of global warming, then the carbon footprint contribution of our activities should be the main driver. Instead, some solu- tions emerging and defined as 100% recyclable produce actually higher CO 2 emissions than what they are replacing and can’t therefore be sus- tainable for the future. Looking at the single use pack- aging sector, plastic packaging is the most attacked material and, as a consequence, we see a shift to other materials that are not automatically more carbon footprint friendly than plastics. This is often an emotional answer to social media attacks that could be even more harmful from a system point of view. As an exam- ple, replacing a PET bottle with a glass one is not the solution. What if we try to let consumers learn what’s behind a packaging and why plastics in packaging have become so suc- cessful worldwide! The current health emergency is showing one of their unparallel advantages offered to con- sumers: safety. But plastic packaging does offer much more: light weight, a PET bottle is lighter than any other packaging and therefore consumers can practically carry their on-the-go snacks and drinks while commuting to job; moreover it hardly breaks and its logistic is agile and safe all over the world; lastly plastics are highly recy- clable (and recycled already) to enter the packaging value chain again or to be used for a number of other applica- tions, not of lower value (textiles as an example). Coming to the carbon foot- print contribution, plastic packaging helps reduce CO 2 emissions, espe- cially when it involves recycling. A PET bottle made of 50% rPET has a lower environmental impact than a tin can or a glass bottle (be it single use and reusable), which is the least environmental unit. Having said that, there are ways to make a plastic packaging even more sustainable.