Sidel joins Ellen MacArthur’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment

Swiss packaging machinery and equipment supplier Sidel Group has signed onto the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, a worldwide initiative launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment in 2018 to address the problem of plastic waste and pollution.

The vision behind the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment includes ambitious goals, including taking action to eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging – through redesign, innovation, and new delivery models – as well as embracing reuse models with the aim of 100 per cent of all plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

Over 400 companies and corporations have already signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, including companies representing 20 per cent of all plastic packaging produced globally such as Danone; H&M Group; L’Oréal; PepsiCo; The Coca-Cola Company; and Unilever. Major packaging supplies have also signed on, including Amcor; as well as plastics producers including Novamont.

“Technologically and industrially, PET, can and glass can all be recycled,” Luc Desoutter, sustainability officer at Sidel, said in a statement. “There is also an economical value in doing so: the value of a bale of PET bottles can range between 300 and 600 Euros per tonne, depending on its quality. PET can be brought back into the value chain, it shouldn’t be considered part of the problem. We are witnessing a significant shift in attitudes towards how PET is recycled and we want to use our engagement as part of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to support and promote this development towards maximum collection and recycling rates.”

Sidel has also formulated an ambitious set of targets of its own, Desoutter said, centred on its End to End approach, which takes into account the impacts created upstream and downstream in the value chain.