82 FORTUNE APRIL 2020have to commit ourselves to stop growing
the production of virgin plastic.”
Yet plastic producers’ capacity to resist
that outcome seems as sturdy as a laundry-
soap bottle, especially in the U.S. Bans on
bags and other “single use” plastics are a
case in point. Beginning in 2021, single-use
plastics will be strictly controlled in the
European Union’s 27 countries, and plastic
bags will be banned in major cities in China.
In the U.S., petrochemical companies have
largely stymied such proposals. Only eight
U.S. states ban single-use plastics. At the
national level, a measure introduced in
February by two Democratic U.S. senators
would make companies share the burden
of recycling and impose a moratorium on
virgin-plastic growth. But Rado szewski,
CEO of the Plastics Industry Association,
calls the second measure “a nonstarter.”
Radoszewski says plastic-ban proposals
are simply “virtue signaling” by politicians,
and argues that alternatives like glass, metal,
and paper are more polluting over their life
span. The association lobbies relentlessly to
send similar messages to lawmakers. “Don’t
let naysayers dictate the story of plastics,” the
group told its members in announcing itsnational conference on March 25. “Educate those on Capi-
tol Hill about what we already know: Plastics help change
people’s lives for the better.”FOR ALL THE fighting words, there are
signs that some businesses are rethinking
plastics—in part because of pressure from
concerned customers.
Some clothing companies have proved
that recycled plastics can command a luxury premium.
In 2017, Adidas began selling high-end sneakers made of
plastic waste hauled from the ocean off the coast of the
Maldives. The $200 shoes have been a sold-out hit, and
Adidas made 11 million pairs last year. The company says
it now aims to eliminate virgin plastic from its produc-
tion completely. Nike has also designed sportswear from
recycled polyester and plans to expand that effort.
Behavioral changes in the packaged-goods world could
have an even bigger impact. Unilever CEO Alan Jope
said last October that the company would “fundamen-
tally rethink” its packaging—its plastic footprint exceeds
700,000 tons a year—and halve virgin-plastic use by 2025.
Advances in recycling also show promise. Unilever
has partnered with SABIC, a company owned by Saudi
Aramco, to create packaging using chemical recycling, a
process that breaks down used plastics and converts them
into material it says is as good as virgin. And IBM last
year said it had created a chemical process to eat through
PET and turn it into nurdles—in a process it says is far
more efficient and scalable than the painstaking wash-MOUNTAIN VIEWS Dumps like this one in Sungai Petani, Malaysia, have angered neighbors and regulators.PLA.W.0420.XMIT.indd 82 FINAL 3/10/2020 4:00:22 PM