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After decades of bitter fights, environmentalists seemed to be winning the war against single-use plastics in recent years, with cities around the world banning or taxing them. Then the coronavirus arrived, raising fears that reusable goods might lead to infections. The impact has been swift. From Maine to Hawaii, plastic-bag bans have been suspended or postponed. In San Francisco, reusable shopping bags — once totems of the city’s vibrant commitment to sustainability — have simply been outlawed.
These reversals have sparked deep concern among activists. Some fear the bans will never be reinstated; others that reusable products may be permanently tainted as “unsafe.†The good news is that activists aren’t the only ones demanding more sustainable packaging these days. So are consumers — and some of the world’s biggest corporations are paying attention.
Campaigns against consumer plastics date roughly to the discovery of the Pacific garbage patch in 1988. The environmental movement was soon galvanised, and
single-use plastics — especially grocery bags and straws — became a focus of global activism. Much of this was misdirected.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags and wraps amounted to only about 0.3% of all the waste generated by homes and businesses in 2010. By comparison, containers and packaging make up about 30%.
Nonetheless, the proliferation of ocean plastic has worried consumers well beyond San Francisco. Last year, a survey of 6,000 people in 11 countries found that 77%
perceived plastics to be the “least environmentally-friendly packaging material.†Perhaps unsurprisingly, 72% said they’re buying more environmentally friendly products than they were five years ago, and 83% thought it was important for companies to design products that can be reused or recycled.
Those shifting perceptions haven’t gone unnoticed by consumer brands. Over the past decade, some of the biggest have adopted ambitious sustainability agendas. In 2017, Apple Inc rolled out an aggressive strategy to embrace sustainable paper and cardboard, which resulted in a 30% reduction in plastic use in iPhone 7 packaging. The next year, nearly 300 global organisations, including companies such as Nestle, Mondelez International and Colgate-Palmolive, pledged to eliminate unnecessary plastic packaging entirely.
Some of those commitments may not amount to much. But the broader trend is unmistakable. For example, last May, 5,000 US households gained access to a zero-waste e-commerce site called Loop. It offers brand-name products packaged in custom-designed glass and metal containers, which the company will deliver to your doorstep in reusable tote bags. Once you’re done with them, Loop will collect all the packaging for washing and refilling.
—Bloomberg