Packaging Sector According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), global plastic waste, which represented 12% of all municipal solid waste (MWS), racked up 242 million tonnes in 2016. At the time of the audit, East Asia and the Pacific had yielded 57 million tonnes. Together with Central Asia, Europe yielded 45 million tonnes. Against the back of this, the region launched the Plastic Waste programme in 2018, which aims to make all plastic packaging recyclable by 2030 and ensure that waste generated on ships is returned to land (EU 2018b). In India, plastic waste generation takes up nearly 7% of the MSW, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Thus, in 2015 it hatched a programme called Plastics for Change, which takes a shot at ethically sourced recycled plastics to reduce plastic pollution and poverty in the region through recycling.
India's Plastics for Change says it enables global brands and manufacturers to source high-quality plastic from responsible supply chains
hese and similar drives are benefitting the post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics market to increase the utilisation of materials derived from recycled waste. Projected to exceed US$10 billion by 2024, the growth of the PCR market, according to a Markets and Markets research, latches on the brisk demand for sustainable packaging. Asia: mining for PCR packaging materials We have heard it before: some countries in Asia are among the worst plastic polluters in the world, according to a 2017 report by Ocean Conservancy and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment. MAY / JUNE 2020
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