1,000 organisations, 20% of global packaging: circular plastics gaining ground
In November 2024, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation counted more than 1,000 organisations — including companies representing 20% of global plastic packaging and more than 50 signatory governments — committed to a shared vision: that plastic never becomes waste.
Each year, approximately 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced worldwide. A fraction is recycled; a significant portion ends up in the oceans, soils or incinerators. This trajectory is not inevitable — it is a design problem.
In November 2024, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation published the results of the Global Commitment: more than 1,000 organisations — including companies representing 20% of all plastic packaging produced in the world and more than 50 signatory governments — have mobilised behind a shared vision: a circular economy for plastic, in which this material never becomes waste.
This is not a petition. Signatories — multinational food companies, packaging manufacturers, retailers and governments — commit to concrete targets to eliminate problematic plastics, increase reuse and recycling rates, and incorporate recycled content into their products.
The shift in logic is simple: design materials to stay in circulation, not to end up in an incinerator or on a beach. The fact that 20% of global plastic packaging is now covered by this commitment is a signal that the industrial transition is already under way — not merely wished for.
Further reading: The Circular Economy Is Not a Label — It Is an Industrial Model