Plastics have significant carbon footprints, contributing to 3.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions throughout their lifecycle, the majority of these being upstream.
Currently just 9% of plastic packaging is recycled, while 50% is sent to landfill and 19% is incinerated. Most of the remaining 22% likely ends up as polluting the natural environment*. But the main contributors are not plastics which remain in use for many years, but packaging, textiles, and consumer products.
This is a crucial moment for the packaging industry, as incentivising recycled plastic in packaging is key to improving circularity in the sector and reducing emissions.
During this webinar, Carbon Trust experts will:
- Discuss how the plastic sector can decarbonise going forward and how pioneering tools can help facilitate this change
- Present the efficacy that increasing recycled content, lowering emissions in manufacture and a stable recycling infrastructure can have on carbon emissions of packaging
- Explore the increasing consumer, supply chain and investor pressure to move away from virgin plastic
- Explain key movements from governments such as taxation and the formation of the UN treaty to stop plastic pollution
We will also introduce our pilot-stage Plastic Packaging Framework which endorses packaging where significant sustainable choices have been made throughout its design and production, facilitating the shift towards a circular economy.
Who should attend?
This webinar is targeted at sustainability, procurement and packaging design roles within the packaging and retail sector.
We are currently recruiting pilot companies for the Plastic Packaging Framework. If you are interested in finding out more about becoming a pathfinder, please get in touch.
Speakers
Sarah Laidler, Senior Consultant, the Carbon Trust
Sarah works to deliver both advice and assurance on organisational and product sustainability. She is a technical lead for the Carbon Trust Standard for Zero Waste to Landfill, working with organisations to achieve and promote this status and align with the EU Waste Framework. Sarah has presented on behalf of the Carbon Trust on waste management, circular economy and strategies for reducing plastic waste within organisations.
Sarah has experience providing assurance and carbon footprinting across multiple sectors, including public health care, construction, food & drink, plastics, manufacturing and retail. Sarah also has significant experience in developing strategies for cutting emissions from corporate supply chains, and was a co-author for the CDP Supply Chain Report 2018.
Sarah holds a BSc degree in Environmental Geography from the University of York. Prior to working for the Carbon Trust Sarah worked for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in ecotoxicology and pollinator research.
Juliet Ermer, Senior Analyst, the Carbon Trust
Juliet has extensive knowledge on climate change, sustainability, and data analysis, and has worked on a wide range of projects within packaging and product carbon footprinting.
Her work includes supporting clients such as Carlsberg, Sainsburys and Amazon, including the development and moderation of Carbon Trust certifications and internal programming and modelling. She has also been a co-developer of the proposition development team for the new Plastic Packaging Framework.
Juliet holds a BSc degree in Geography from King’s College London.
* OCED (2022), Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options, OECD Publishing, Paris
