The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact network welcomes the Poland Plastics Pact Polski Pakt Plastikowy, led by Kampania 17 Celów. The online launch of the Polski Pakt Plastikowy took place on the 10th September.
The Polish Plastics Pact brings together businesses from across the value chain, investors, NGOs, and academia, all working towards a common vision for a circular economy for plastic, in which it never becomes waste or pollution.
The Poland Plastics Pact’s 13 members include Alpla, Carrefour, Danone, Jeronimo Martins Kaufland, Korporacja KGL, Lidl, Lotte Wedel, LPP, Nestlé, Rekopol, Santander Bank and Unilever. The initiative already represents 25% of the plastics packaging put on the market in Poland, and is joined by 20 supporting members including NGOs such as WWF Poland, and various universities and investors such as Santander bank. The full list can be found on the Polski Pakt Plastikowy’s website, and The Pact invites further organisations to join.
The Pact is in line with the other seven national Plastics Pacts and the regional European Plastics Pact. Members will jointly work towards the following 2025 targets:
- Eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastic packaging through redesign, innovation, and alternative delivery models
- A 30% reduction (by weight) in virgin plastic consumption across plastic packaging put on the market (in absolute reduction, ie. based on the tonnages put on the market in 2018*)
- Ensure that 100% of plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable
- Ensure an average of 25% recycled content across all plastic packaging
- Effective support of packaging collection and recycling systems that ensure at least 55% of plastic packaging is recycled on the Polish market
- Conduct effective citizen engagement in the field of reduction, reuse, sorting, and recycling of packaging.
* 2018 baseline as 2019 data is currently not available due to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Progress against the Pact’s targets will be released publicly on an annual basis. Looking forward, action is already being taken by the The Poland Plastics Pact, as it aims to hit the ground running via working groups towards the Plastics Pact’s targets.
“The Ellen MacArthur Foundation welcomes the announcement of the Polish Plastics Pact, the latest national initiative to join our Plastics Pact global network. We are looking forward to supporting the government and industry of Poland in driving real change towards a circular economy for plastic, by eliminating problematic and unnecessary plastic items, innovating to ensure that the plastics they do need are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and circulating the plastic items they use to keep them in the economy and out of the environment. Together we can create a world in which plastic never becomes waste or pollution.” Sander Defruyt, New Plastics Economy Lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The Polish Plastics Pact is a platform for cooperation between participants across the plastic packaging value chain. The Pact aims to embed circular economy principles into the way plastic packaging is made and used on the Polish market. Six common targets for 2025 will unite the Pact’s members in a shared ambition. Only together can we face the plastic challenge. The commitment of the members of the Pact is an expression of greater ambition across industry and a mutual decision to initiate joint projects that would be impossible for individual entities to carry out. It is time for decisive action — here and now. The strategic goals of the Polish Plastics Pact make an ambitious, and very specific action plan.” Małgorzata Greszta, 17 Goals Campaign – Poland Plastics Pact Lead
