To cut plastic pollution, mandate recycled content and allow for trade and global circularity

The current oil crisis could accelerate the adoption of both renewable energy and recycled plastic as a hedge against future shocks. Cross-border trade in recyclable plastic and mandates for the quantity of recycled material that products must contain can reform global supply chains. But Justin Robertson and Doug Woodring argue that labelling the material as a “resource”, rather than “waste”, is essential too.

After climate change, few environmental problems are more pressing and complex than plastic pollution. In recent months, turbulence in the Middle East forced a rethink of energy markets and global supply chains. Since virgin plastic is made almost entirely from fossil fuel, the economics of plastic is closely tied to oil prices.

The result has been some small but encouraging signs of adaptation to oil volatility. Recycled plastic has quietly won contracts it could not have competed for before. As the Strait of Hormuz lurches between opening and closure, the question becomes whether the status quo will simply be restored, leaving the oil-based plastic industry unshaken.

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