As momentum toward a fully circular economy builds, GreenBiz has highlighted six emerging trends to keep an eye on in 2020 and beyond.
The GreenBiz article explores extended producer responsibility legislation, collaboration between companies and supply chain members to solve challenges around packaging materials, chemical recycling and toxic chemicals, among other trends that will shape 2020.
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Circular economy approaches advanced in 2019, particularly for plastics and packaging. The explosion of media interest in the ocean plastics crisis has driven both consumers and regulators to seek action. Companies are responding with new strategies to reduce waste.
"There’s a stronger sense of urgency in the consumer products and retail space to move more aggressively to go after recycled content and to go after a wider variety of solutions," Bridget Croke, vice president of external affairs at Closed Loop Partners, told GreenBiz.
In some cases, it’s a bit of back to the future, with businesses seeking to close the packaging loop with new product delivery models that actually existed a long time ago but now have a modern twist. In other cases, its new, breakthrough technologies for chemical recycling of plastic materials that companies are increasingly getting behind.