UPM Raflatac joins US Plastics Pact

UPM Raflatac has joined the US Plastics Pact to drive significant systems change by unifying diverse cross-sector approaches and setting a national strategy to towards a circular economy for plastics in the US by 2025.

UPM Raflatac has joined the US Plastics Pact to drive significant systems change towards a circular economy for plastics in the US by 2025

The first North American Pact of its kind, the US Pact is a collaboration led by The Recycling Partnership, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Activators like UPM Raflatac recognize that significant, systemwide change is imperative to realize a circular economy for plastics. As such, the US Pact will convene more than 70 brands, retailers, NGOs, and government agencies across the plastics value chain to bring one voice to US packaging through coordinated initiatives and innovative solutions for rethinking products, packaging, and business models.

‘Our company is proud to be the first pressure sensitive label supplier to join the US Plastics Pact, further demonstrating our commitment to leading in sustainable labeling,’ said Kyle Strenski, director of global business development, Films, UPM Raflatac. ‘We believe that labels matter when it comes to the design and recyclability of sustainable packaging materials and look forward to collaborating with our fellow activators on ways we can make a circular economy for plastics an achievable goal within the next five years.’

As a founding activator UPM Raflatac has agreed to define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025. ​It also committed to achieving three goals by 2025 including converting all plastic packaging to entirely reusable, recyclable, or compostable; to effectively recycle or compost 50 percent of plastic packaging; and increase the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging to 30 percent. ​

‘Together through the US Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy,’ added Sarah Dearman, vice president of circular ventures for The Recycling Partnership. ‘The US Pact will accelerate systemwide change by inspiring and supporting upstream innovation through a coordinated national strategy, creating a unified framework and enabling members to accelerate progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals. Members’ full participation will be vital to reaching our shared goals.’

The first task of the founding members of the pact is to establish a roadmap in Q1 2021 to identify key milestones to achieving the US targets and realize a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste.