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As one of the founding organizations, PakTech is at the forefront of creating a solutions-driven system to better reduce, reuse, and recycle plastics. Its aim is to create a more efficient and just economy that keeps plastic in the economy and out of the environment.
The U.S. Plastics Pact is led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact network. The U.S. joins similar pacts in Europe, Latin America, and Africa, which unites over 850 global organizations with the shared goal of taking meaningful, measurable, and actionable steps toward creating a sustainable economy for plastic.
“Together, through the U.S. Plastics Pact, we will ignite systems change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy,” says Sarah Dearman, VP of Circular Ventures for The Recycling Partnership. “As the lead organization that engages the full supply chain to advance circularity in the U.S., it’s a natural fit for The Recycling Partnership to further collaborative action with other industry leaders to create substantial, long-lasting change for the betterment of our planet. The results from the U.S. Plastics Pact’s efforts to advance packaging, improve recycling, and reduce plastic waste will benefit the entire system and all materials.”
As part of the 2020 announcement, the U.S. Plastics Pact outlines four targets:
• Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025.
• By 2025, all plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
• PakTech products are 100% recyclable. In areas that don’t accept rigid plastics, we have started our own recycling program to ensure PakTech products are properly recycled.
• By 2025, undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
• By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30%.
• PakTech offers this today with our 100% HDPE recycled products, and spearheaded this sustainability initiative over 8 years ago when we started manufacturing recycled products in 2012.
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“This is an exciting step on the journey towards a circular economy for plastic in the United States, one that keeps plastic in the economy and out of the environment,” says Sander Defruyt, Lead of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative. “This effort will not only help to create solutions in the U.S., but across the world, as part of our global network of Plastics Pacts. We are looking forward to working with all those involved to drive real change, by eliminating problematic and unnecessary plastic items, innovating to ensure all plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and circulating it in practice. We encourage others to join us on this journey towards a United States free of plastic waste and pollution.”
PakTech will join other members—including businesses, nonprofits, government entities (local, state, and federal), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, and other stakeholders—in creating a roadmap, concrete targets, and transparent reporting to address these challenges. The U.S. Plastics Pact represents an opportunity to deliver real systemic change and accelerate the transition to a circular economy for plastic, as well as develop solutions that can be used around the world.
As a manufacturer of 100% recycled and recyclable HDPE products (now officially certified by SCS Global Services), PakTech stands ready to assist other organizations by providing them with packaging that will help them achieve these impactful targets and meet their sustainability goals. Together it can do the right thing for the environment and the economy by better reducing, reusing, and recycling plastics, and everyone at PakTech is excited to collaborate with other U.S. organizations to do exactly that.
“We are not only excited to be a part of U.S. Plastics Pact initiative in support of circular economy efforts, we are also proud to be amongst an elite group of corporations that look to a common goal of preserving our environment and economy,” says Gary Panknin, PakTech’s Sustainability Officer. “PakTech is proud to demonstrate our achievements of already exceeding some of the goals being put into place by providing 100% recycled plastic packaging products that are 100% recyclable and reusable. This joint partnership allows PakTech to further demonstrate our abilities and stand out as a prominent and sustainable player in the packaging industry."
