2024-12-27
The United Nations is calling on the world to get on-board its Global Plastics Treaty by the end of 2024. Plastics were also the focus of Earth Day this year. Europe has implemented a "plastic packaging tax". Is the next milestone in global sustainability a shift from decreasing carbon to decreasing plastic pollution?
Data shows that humans produced more plastic in the last decade than in the entirety of the 20th century. On average, we pumped out 380 million tons of plastic every year.
To use the most common plastic item, the plastic bag, as an example, the world produced an average of one million plastic bags every minute in 2023. What's worse, most plastic bags are used for only a few minutes before they're discarded. And this waste will not decompose for centuries.
There's more bad news. The oversupply of plastic, coupled with the failure to deal with waste efficiently, has led to around eight million tons of plastic waste being dumped into the ocean every year. If the current trends continue, plastic waste will double in quantity in 2040, and plastic production will double in 2060.
The faster we produce plastic items, the faster we throw them away. Waste management cannot keep up.
In March of 2022, the 175 member countries of the UN made a historic decision. They decided to terminate plastic pollution by passing a legally binding international document known as the Global Plastics Treaty. Five rounds of intergovernmental negotiations were to be held over two years. In early December, the final negotiation session is expected to commence in Busan, Korea.
Touted as the most crucial piece of international environmental legislation since the Paris Agreement, the treaty is expected to add plastic reduction to carbon reduction as the second main goal of global sustainable development. In addition to achieving net zero by 2050, plastic production should also be reduced by 60% by 2040. This is known as the "60x40 Plastic Reduction Target".
More than 60 countries, including those in the EU, the UK, Japan, and the United States, have expressed support for the 2040 goal. If the Global Plastics Treaty is ratified, it is expected to set a target for plastic reduction through the consensus of nations. Individual governments can then propose national plans to meet the target.
What is the effect of this international treaty on Taiwan?
Hsiang-jui Hsu (許祥瑞), Manager at the Plastic Industry Development Center, is of the opinion that at the national level, countries that sign the treaty must come up with a practical plan to reduce plastic waste in each country. As part of the international community, Taiwan cannot afford to opt out. What's more, a growing number of enterprises on the global supply chain are being asked by their clients to combat plastic pollution during the life cycle of their plastic products.
Besides the upcoming international treaty, many countries have proposed a "plastic tax" and other plans to decrease the consumption of single-use plastic packaging materials.
The European Union took the lead, imposing a plastic levy in 2021. Based on the weight of the plastic packaging waste that cannot be recycled or reused, the EU charged its Member States €0.8 per kilogram of waste. The EU also authorized its members to determine where the money comes from.
For instance, Belgium, France, and Sweden decided to set up another budget for paying the levy rather than passing the burden on to their citizens. In 2023, Spain began taxing any domestic or foreign company that trades with it €450 per ton of unrecyclable or un-reusable plastic waste. Lithuania, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands chose to tax plastic pollution through existing laws rather than impose a new tax.
Even the United Kingdom took a leading role, in spite of Brexit. In 2022, it imposed a plastic tax of £217 per ton on plastic packaging that contains less than 30% of recycled material. Germany is slated to enact similar measures in 2025. The U.S. has also proposed a "reduction act" that taxes $0.2 for every pound of virgin plastic pellet that will be turned into single-use packaging, whether it is locally manufactured or imported.
Although different countries have different ways of dealing with plastic pollution, and although the results have varied, these measures are all based on the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR). Hsu says that Taiwanese manufacturers have already encountered European customers who asked that a certain percentage of recycled plastics (rPET) be used in their products to avoid paying the tax.
Plastic Packaging Taxes at a Glance |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Enactment date | Tax rate | Taxpayer | Note |
| United Kingdom | April 2022 | Originally £200 per ton of plastic packaging. Increased to £217.85 this April. | Plastic packaging that contains less than 30% of recycled plastic that is made in or imported into the UK. | Packaging that contains 35% or higher recycled plastic is exempt |
| Spain | January 2023 | €0.45 per kilogram of new plastic. | Single-use non-recycled plastic packaging. | Additional tax on single-use plastics that are buried or incinerated |
| Italy | July 1st, 2024 | €0.45 per kilogram of new plastic. | Single-use non-recycled plastic packaging. | |
| Germany | 2025 (proposed) | Tiered system. Lowest at €0.001 per kilogram, highest at €8,972 per kilogram | Single-use plastic packaging and products. | |
| United States | Proposed in 2021 | $0.2 per pound of virgin plastic pellet | Single-use plastic packaging. | |
Hsu recommends Taiwanese manufacturers adhere to four principles in preparation for the global war on plastics:
One, evaluate the content of primary microplastics in their products, including relevant chemical substances. Two, avoid the use of problematic plastic products, such as single-use plastic products with short lifespans and intentionally added plastic additives. Three, product design should cut back on nonessential use of plastics, and increase the percentage of repeat-use, refillable, repairable, and recycled plastics, as well as incorporate a closed-loop system for recycling plastics. Four, consider the ramifications of EPR, especially in the use and disposal stages of a product's life cycle.
"Sooner is better than later," says Che-Hung Kuo (郭哲宏), chief sustainability officer at the major food packaging supplier KYF Packaging. At the end of 2022, Taiwan lifted restrictions on the use of rPET in packaging that comes in direct contact with food. Because KYF had invested in recycled plastics for years, it became the first company to sell its rPET food packaging to wholesalers and retailers. In recent years, KYF has gradually increased the percentage of rPET in its products. A 2022 report shows that rPET makes up about 13.2% of its entire catalog.
The pressure on big global brands to use renewables has led to supply shortages and skyrocketing prices. But even though KYF must shoulder the higher costs, Kuo is optimistic that the higher profit margin will attract new investments that will naturally squash costs. "We can reduce the impact on the environment by channeling plastic waste back into the production cycle," he says.
According to the market research company Wood Mackenzie, the global recycling rate of PET bottles in 2020 averaged 54%. In 2023, the figure grew to 57%. It is projected to surge past 60% by 2025.
Taiwan's erstwhile textiles giant, Far Eastern New Century (FENC), points out that a third of the polyester industry manufactures PET bottles, the recycling of which is already an established and sophisticated process. Two-thirds are used on textiles. If a profitable process of recycling textiles can be developed, it will go a long way toward satisfying demand for rPET.
FENC is throwing its full weight behind the development of textile recycling. One method involves using chemicals to treat discarded textiles woven from mixed materials. The pilot plant will finish construction in 2024, and FENC will explore new ways of commercializing the process of creating rPET.
Source： CommonWealth Magazine, 2024-04-29
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