Plastic has many positive material characteristics, but it is used in unsustainable ways. It is perceived as cheap and disposable, and this has led to increa¬sing amounts of plastic waste which are difficult to recycle with current societal, business and cultural structures.
To achieve a high-quality material recycling and have the possibility to use recycled plastic back into high quality products, there is a need to keep the different plastic types separate from each other and uncontaminated by other mate¬rials.
This requires, among others, a thorough separate collection of diffe¬rent plastic waste fractions, as well as business models, infrastructure and logistic solutions which enable a better control over the different plastic flows.
The report presents ten business models for managing industrial or commercial plastic packaging into closed or semi-closed loops through either material recycling or re-use.
Based on the analysis of the ten business models, six guidelines have been formulated for companies which are interested to transition from a linear to a closed loop business model for the management of industrial and commercial plastic packaging.
1) Commit long-term and invest in the future of your company,
2) Understand the customer needs and design the packaging for circular use,
3) Use Life Cycle Analysis as a tool to optimize your closed loop,
4) Communicate efficiently to engage the customer,
5) Build new strategic partnerships and 6) Educate and engage decision makers at all levels.