Responding to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) new report, the Global Commitment 2022 Progress Report, environmentalists City to Sea, have said it shows the need for government to play a more interventionist role in light of businesses’ failure to voluntarily act.
Commenting, City to Sea’s Policy Manager, Steve Hynd, said: “This report shows clearly that voluntary commitments from big business have failed to tackle the plastic crisis. If anything, it shows how plastic production has gone up since it was set up in 2018. This is a deplorable failure by businesses like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Mars. Considering this failure, we need government to play a much more interventionist role. England is now the only country in Europe to not have banned some of the most polluting single-use plastic items like plastic cutlery despite launching a consultation one year ago*.”
He continued,
“Both government and business are increasingly talking the talk on tackling plastic pollution but failing to walk the walk. Today’s report shows how business is even going backwards in some cases. The severity of the plastic crisis cannot tolerate this inaction. If business won’t voluntarily walk this path with us, we need a more interventionist approach from government to ensure some action is taken before it’s too late.”