Last week, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the UN Environment Programme released Global Commitment 2022, an annual update report on the progress of more than 500 organizations committed to building a circular economy for plastics. The report found that while progress has been made in some areas, key 2025 targets are expected to be missed, highlighting the urgent need for businesses to accelerate action, particularly around reuse, flexible packaging, and decoupling business growth from packaging use.
The following is a statement from Martin Bourque, executive director of the Ecology Center, on behalf of the Alliance of Mission-Based Recyclers:
“The findings from the report are unfortunately not surprising. For decades, we’ve watched brands make voluntary commitments that they will not achieve as a strategy to stop or stall public policy. To address the plastic packaging crisis, we need real solutions, like bottle deposit laws, minimum content laws, packaging design requirements, product bans, reuse and refill requirements, improved labeling laws, and truly accountable Extended Producer Responsibility policies.”
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AMBR is a coalition founded by four of the original pioneers of mission-driven, community-based nonprofit recycling in the U.S., Eureka Recycling, Eco-Cycle, Ecology Center, and Recycle Ann Arbor. By revealing facts and myths about how recycling works, modeling innovative policies and practices, and influencing the national conversation, AMBR is guiding new recycling policies and infrastructure investments to rebuild credible, transparent recycling systems that support a sustainable circular economy and just, resilient local communities.