The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has called for the consumer goods industry to play a ‘leading role’ in eliminating plastic waste on land and sea, and pledged its support for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy vision.
“We are committed to implementing pre-competitive, collaborative actions with the aim of eliminating plastic waste on land and sea,” commented Emmanuel Faber, Danone chairman and CEO and CGF Board member.
“We recognise that the plastic waste challenge will only be solved by global collaboration between companies, national and local governments, multi-national organisations, the recycling industry and consumers.
"Consequently, the Board of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) endorses the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy vision of a circular economy where no plastic ends up as waste.”
Our Ocean Conference
Following last week’s Sustainable Retail Summit, which took place in Lisbon, the Forum issued the statement to coincide with the Our Ocean Conference taking place in Bali, Indonesia this week.
Faber added that several CGF members have already been taking steps to reduce problematic or unnecessary packaging and increase the use of packaging that is recyclable or reusable.
“To complement the efforts of individual member companies, the CGF will identify specific areas where we can work collaboratively and pre-competitively to advance a circular economy for plastic packaging,” he said.
“Initial focus areas will include optimising packaging design, working with others to enable recycling and reuse systems, and inspiring consumer engagement”.
Echoing his sentiment, Ian Cook, chairman and CEO of Colgate-Palmolive, and CGF Board co-chair, added that the challenge of plastic waste can be “best addressed through specific actions that CGF companies can take individually and collectively in partnership with governments, NGOs and the recycling industry. We're committed to doing our part to ensure the plastic we need is safely and economically, reused, recycled or composted.”
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
