Plastics pollution in the tourism sector

Sustainable Tourism programme is preparing the ground to act on plastics pollution in the tourism sector. 

The Initiative,  jointly with UNWTO, UNEP, the French government and the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, will be the interface of the Ellen Macarthur New Plastics Economy Global Commitment for the tourism sector, comprised of a roadmap with tangible goals and a monitoring system. 

More news coming soon through a series of tourism webinars on plastics that will be published here.

For further details please contact Ms. Svitlana Mikhalyeva: svitlana.mikhalyeva@un.org

Ellen Macarthur New Plastics Economy Global Commitment

Over 400 organisations have signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, including Keurig Dr Pepper, Tupperware Brands, Graham Packaging (a Reynolds Group company), and Berry Global, Inc. Their targets and ambitions can be found in the updated June 2019 Report published today. Launched in October 2018, the Global Commitment has quickly become the essential agreement to transform the plastic packaging sector.

The updated report shows that: 

• 50 brands and retailers are piloting or expanding reuse and refill schemes
• The recycled content targets from consumer packaged goods companies, retailers, and packaging producers amount to a demand of 5.4 million tonnes of recycled plastics by 2025 (with several companies still to set their 2025 targets)
• Leading businesses and governments will stop using problematic and unnecessary plastic packaging including PVC, single-use plastic straws, and carrier bags - many by the end of this year
• Consumer goods companies and retailers commit to increasing recycled content in their packaging to an average of 25% by 2025, compared with the current global average of just 2%
• 40 organisations now publicly report their annual volumes of plastic packaging production and use, including major consumer packaged goods companies and retailers Carrefour, Colgate Palmolive, Danone, L'Oréal, MARS, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Unilever

The next milestone will be the reporting of the progress of signatories against their commitments, detailing the actions that over 200 business and government signatories have taken to move forward and meet their commitments. This reporting will include key data such as the volumes of plastic packaging, and the proportion of recycled content and will mark an important step towards greater transparency in today’s plastic system.

Unsplash - Brian Yurasits