Business coalition for a global plastics treaty

The development of a legally binding UN treaty is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to tackle the plastic pollution crisis in a globally coordinated way. The coalition, convened by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and WWF, in collaboration with aligned businesses and supported by strategic NGO partners, sees the treaty as the single most important opportunity to accelerate progress towards a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste or pollution, and the value of products and materials is retained in the economy. 

To achieve this vision of a circular economycircular economyA systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. for plastics, the coalition believes that progress must be achieved in three critical areas:

1. REDUCTION of plastic production and use through a circular economy approach, focusing on those plastics that have high-leakage rates, are short-lived, and/or are made using fossil-based virgin resources.

2. CIRCULATION of all plastic items that cannot be eliminated, keeping them in the economy at their highest value.

3. PREVENTION and REMEDIATION of remaining, hard-to-abate micro- and macro-plastic leakage into the environment.