Plastic at a Crossroads: Rethinking Pollution and Business Responsibility

stauss5
Jan 27
5 min read

Not a single view goes without Plastic, Plastic is everywhere, in the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. It is very important for us to rethink and set business responsibilities towards the Pollution caused by Plastic. It isn’t just a waste management issue but a deep-rooted systemic problem. According to UNDP, “Every year, the world produces around 430 million metric tons of new plastic. If we continue, global plastics use might triple by the year 2060.” (5) To rethink and propose solutions, we must first understand the patterns, hidden behaviours and mentality.

Figure1: Packaging is the source of 40% of the planet’s plastic waste

Source: (8)

From Convenience to Catastrophe- Plastic Conundrum

Plastic once considered as revolutionary material is now turning into a nightmare! Being Lightweight, cheap and durable material, it redefined the modern-day Supply chain. For years, people thought that it was Consumer’s responsibility. If consumers handled the waste or recycled it properly, we could have solved the present-day problem. But what we failed to understand is the real issue -Business Responsibility, which followed Linear economy model (Take-Make-Waste). When Plastic was commercialised and linear model was adopted, the focus was only set with Innovation and Profit, there was no room for Sustainability. Convenience driven consumptions, low cost of virgin plastic, lack of affordable ecofriendly alternative, business inertia towards circular strategies, weak policies and limited awareness stand as the fundamental causes for Plastic Pollution.

According to OECD, the global breakdown of plastic waste disposal in 2023 shows that only "9% of plastic waste is recycled, 19% is incinerated, 22% is mismanaged, and 49% ends up in landfills.” (10)

Figure2 : Share of plastic waste that is recycled, landfilled, incinerated and mismanaged,2019

Source: (7)

As the statistics are worrisome, it has raised concerns all over the world to handle Plastic, as it appears to be the greatest environmental threat. Many countries started their own sustainable Plastic handling models (3). These Models not only establish a balancing loop but also teaches possible sustainable ways to handle these pollutions.

Is it even possible to avoid or reverse the impact? If so, is it through Plastic clean up or banning Plastic and replacing it with ecofriendly alternative? If we want to exceed the current 9% ceiling, we need to have a sharp focus on 4 important perspectives namely,

Plastic Waste Simplification – simplified waste separation leads to easier collection and recycling (9)
Product Design – Product design should have mandate alignment with Policies & Frameworks that enables post consumption recovery (6)
Price Correction- To make recycled material more affordable than virgin plastic, we need Incentives from government's end on Carbon pricing and subsidies (1)
Visibility- Encourage informal workers through awareness, training, incentives and better access to markets. (6)

Beyond Linearity: Transitioning towards Circularity

Businesses should integrate systemic strategies like Circular Economy(Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), Life cycle assessment, Stakeholder approaches to handle the present-day crisis.

Choosing Responsibility over Complacency means (2),

Introducing reuse, redesign and reinnovate techniques to eliminate unnecessary plastics and downsize Single use Plastic waste.
All plastic should be recyclable, reusable and compostable, free of hazardous chemicals.
Promoting Material circulation through dedicated systems that include Plastic collection and sorting with chemical or biological breakdown process to rebuild the material.
Formulating sustainable benchmarks and transparent reporting

Business at Crossroads: Case Study of Unilever – Indonesia packaging initiative

Unilever quietly rewrote the Plastic Packaging in the most sustainable way in Indonesia- A country having Plastic waste as one of the biggest environmental issues.

In 2017, Unilever fortified its dedication to sustainability by reducing its reliance on virgin plastic globally by 50%, approximately 100000 metric tonnes and also promised to use 25% recycled plastics in all its Packaging by 2025 (4).

Unilever did the following to make it Circular (4),

They introduced Postconsumer recycled (PCR)materials to reduce dependence on Virgin Plastic. In partnership with their stakeholders, they even developed sustainable packaging for select product designs. For e.g. bottles of Bango soy sauce and Love & Beauty Planet.
The CreaSolv® project, conducted in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and PT Trias Sentosa in Indonesia, is committed to recycle multi-layered plastic waste into sustainable materials.
In 2023, the company launched the "Waste Bank" initiative (across 50 cities and 13 provinces), a community waste collection hub, where households can exchange their waste for rewards or cash. It was even partnered with Google to facilitate access to these waste banks.
Educational initiatives like Generasi Pilah Plastik (Generation of Plastic Sorting) not only instils consumer responsibilities, but also raises public awareness about waste sorting.
Their RDF (Refuse derived fuel) projects transformed waste into alternative fuels.

By redesigning its packaging, reducing the virgin Plastic reliance, and by creating Waste Banks and educational initiatives, Unilever transformed its practice into closed loop way. By 2025, they aim to ensure that all plastic packaging is recyclable, reusable or biodegradable.

What makes them a Pioneer? It’s their System Thinking! They saw beyond the superficial layer. They created a Strategy not only benefits the Business, but the People and the Planet- holistically covering the Sustainable dimensions.

The Road to Regeneration

While Plastic handling might seem Overwhelming –it’s not Tangible. Instead of focussing on down-streams (Post consumption), we need to handle the up-streams like – Design, Pricing and Visibility. Companies like Unilever have demonstrated, how we can turn Waste into Value, through smart design, incentive strategies and stakeholder participation. The Fact is very evident- Future of Sustainability lies in Business Choices and Responsibility. Therefore, everything depends on the path we choose - whether we accumulate and harm or balance through restoration.

References

(1) Castell-Rüdenhausen, M. z., & Marttila, T. (2025). Value chain actor perceptions to enhance plastics circularity in Europe—recommendations for future action. Frontiers in Sustainability, 6. Von https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2025.1531428 abgerufen

(2) Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (16. September 2019). Plastics and the Circular Economy: Deep Dive. Von Ellen MacArthur Foundation: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/plastics-and-the-circular-economy-deep-dive abgerufen

(3 )EuroPlas. (kein Datum). Top 7 successful plastic recycling models worldwide. Von https://europlas.com.vn/en-US/blog-1/top-7-successful-plastic-recycling-models-worldwide abgerufen

(4) Fatimah, Y. A. (2020). Beyond Disposables – Towards Circular Plastic Packaging: Business Case Study: Unilever Indonesia. Bangkok, Thailand (SWITCH-Asia Regional Policy Support Component Office): SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component (European Union). Von https://www.switch-asia.eu/site/assets/files/4449/unilever.pdf abgerufen

(5) Plastic pollution. (kein Datum). Von United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): https://www.undp.org/chemicals-waste/our-work-areas/plastic-pollution abgerufen

(6)Plastics for change. (18. April 2025). Why is less than 10 % of the world’s plastic being recycled? Von Plastics for change: https://www.plasticsforchange.org/blog/why-is-less-than-10-of-the-worlds-plastic-being-recycled abgerufen

(7) Ritchie, H., Samborska, V., & Roser, M. (2023). Share of plastic waste that is recycled, landfilled, incinerated and mismanaged. Von Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-plastic-fate?tab=discrete-bar&time=2000..2019 abgerufen

(8) Samborska, V. (14. November 2024). Packaging is the source of 40 % of the planet’s plastic wast. Von Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/packaging-is-the-source-of-40-of-the-planets-plastic-waste abgerufen

(9) shimura, Y., Nomura, K., & Ichinose, D. (2025). Does simplification of plastic waste separation promote plastic recycling? Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 27, 316-329. Von https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-024-02119-x abgerufen

(10) Smulian, M. (22. February 2022). OECD finds only 9% of plastic recycled worldwide. Material Recycling World (MRW).

Author: Ayshwarya Satheesh, Student of MBA Sustainability Management Class 3 (2025-2027)