Why Businesses Are Increasingly Supporting Federal EPR
In the latest WWF–SC Johnson blog post, we share what experience with setting and achieving voluntary commitments is starting to show and what it means for the role of policy.
Voluntary action has helped drive real progress on plastic waste. Companies have redesigned packaging, increased recycled content, and tested new models like refill and reuse. According to the latest Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) Global Commitment Progress Report, companies participating in the initiative have avoided using 14 million tonnes of virgin plastic since the effort began – effectively keeping one barrel of oil in the ground every second. Together, they have tripled the use of recycled content in their packaging and eliminated billions of problematic plastic items from the waste stream.
However, scaling those solutions depends on something bigger, because while individual efforts matter, they don’t operate in a vacuum. The companies that made these EMF commitments represent approximately 20% of packaging placed into the market. We need all producers working towards these same goals to solve the plastic waste crisis. And the systems around them – how materials are collected, processed and valued – play just as large a role in what’s possible.
Some of the biggest barriers to progress aren’t about ambition or innovation. They’re about the conditions needed to make those efforts work at scale: consistent rules, aligned incentives and infrastructure that can support change across markets.
This latest post explores how that perspective is shaping how many businesses are thinking about what comes next. Not as a shift away from action, but as a recognition that voluntary efforts alone can only go so far, and how these lessons are influencing support for more coordinated, harmonized approaches at the federal level.
You can read the full post here on BlueParadox.com, where you’ll also find additional content exploring the plastic waste system and the changes needed to address it.
Follow SC Johnson on LinkedIn for updates on when new articles are posted.
Voluntary action has helped drive real progress on plastic waste. Companies have redesigned packaging, increased recycled content, and tested new models like refill and reuse. According to the latest Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) Global Commitment Progress Report, companies participating in the initiative have avoided using 14 million tonnes of virgin plastic since the effort began – effectively keeping one barrel of oil in the ground every second. Together, they have tripled the use of recycled content in their packaging and eliminated billions of problematic plastic items from the waste stream.
However, scaling those solutions depends on something bigger, because while individual efforts matter, they don’t operate in a vacuum. The companies that made these EMF commitments represent approximately 20% of packaging placed into the market. We need all producers working towards these same goals to solve the plastic waste crisis. And the systems around them – how materials are collected, processed and valued – play just as large a role in what’s possible.
Some of the biggest barriers to progress aren’t about ambition or innovation. They’re about the conditions needed to make those efforts work at scale: consistent rules, aligned incentives and infrastructure that can support change across markets.
This latest post explores how that perspective is shaping how many businesses are thinking about what comes next. Not as a shift away from action, but as a recognition that voluntary efforts alone can only go so far, and how these lessons are influencing support for more coordinated, harmonized approaches at the federal level.
You can read the full post here on BlueParadox.com, where you’ll also find additional content exploring the plastic waste system and the changes needed to address it.
Follow SC Johnson on LinkedIn for updates on when new articles are posted.