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<ul class="summary-list"><li>World leaders are in Ottawa negotiating a treaty to end plastic pollution.</li><li>The US, a major plastic exporter, says its a dealmaker but is under pressure to be more ambitious.</li></ul>World leaders are gathering in Ottawa, Ontario, this week to hash out a global treaty to end plastic pollution.It's a pivotal point in the talks, with countries aiming to strike a deal by the end of the year. The US has positioned itself as a broker between other big oil, gas, and petrochemical exporters — including Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia — and countries that want steep cuts to plastic production.But critics say the US isn't being ambitious enough."We'd like to see clear recognition from the US that the treaty has to confront the production of plastic polymers and resins if it's to be successful," Carroll Muffett, the president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, told Business Insider. "We cannot recycle our way out of the plastics crisis."Muffett is among a handful of scientists and business and community advocacy groups who told BI they wanted to see a stronger position from the US. The country has a lot of sway as the world's largest exporter of oil and gas, the main ingredients in plastics. The US has also been at the forefront of a massive build-out of new plastics and petrochemical plants over the past decade. The Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit, <a target="_blank" href="https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Feeding-the-Plastics-Industrial-Complex-3.14.24.pdf">identified 50 plastic plants built after 2012</a> and found that at least 20 more would be built or expanded over the next five years.The trend is global. Plastic production is expected to nearly triple by 2060 unless countries reach a deal to rein it in, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oecd.org/environment/global-plastic-waste-set-to-almost-triple-by-2060.htm">according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development</a>. A treaty could be the most impactful climate action since the Paris agreement because the plastic industry accounts for 5% of global carbon emissions. That could grow to 20% by 2050 if current trends continue, <a target="_blank" href="https://energyanalysis.lbl.gov/publications/climate-impact-primary-plastic">the US Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a> said.A State Department spokesperson in an email said the US is concerned that "overly prescriptive approaches" to ending plastic pollution put the treaty at risk because the largest producers and consumers of plastics might not support it. The US position is focused on policies that drive down the demand for new plastic, such as through government incentives and reuse models. However, the spokesperson said that countries "would not be precluded" from adopting their own policies.The Biden administration wants to finish a deal this year, given that the presidential election is in November, several observers of the negotiations told BI. But it will be difficult to persuade the Senate to ratify a treaty, they said.In Ottawa, major disagreements remain over how to tackle the more than 350 million metric tons of plastic waste produced globally each year, much of which ends up in landfills and the environment. Only 9% of plastics are recycled.Hundreds of businesses and countries support cutting plastic production. This could involve phasing out "problematic" plastics that can't be recycled or are harmful to public health and mandating that products be made with more recycled material. Taxing plastic polymers is also being discussed, which could help finance improvements to waste infrastructure in developing countries."Shared financial responsibility is something we really want to see," Allison Lin, the global vice president of packaging sustainability at Mars Inc., said. Lin represents the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, which includes more than 200 companies. Among them are Walmart, PepsiCo, and L'Oréal.Lin said the coalition supported a policy called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/recycling-rate-us-extended-producer-responsibility-cans-bottles-plastic-paper-2023-2">extended producer responsibility</a>, which slaps a fee on companies' packaging to help fund recycling and collection and has been successful in countries such as Belgium. Plastic makers similarly should bear some of the financial burden, she said.Stewart Harris, a spokesperson for the International Council of Chemical Association, agreed that plastic makers needed to make greater investments, and the group supports EPR and recycled-content mandates. But the industry is opposed to taxes because they would be difficult to implement and it would be hard to ensure money flows into programs tackling plastic pollution, he said.Plastic makers also oppose setting caps on production, as do countries including Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. Harris cited <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/resource/mapping-the-plastics-value-chain/">an industry-commissioned report</a> by Oxford Economics that found a cap could increase costs for consumers as well as greenhouse-gas emissions. Plastics require less energy to manufacture and transport compared with some other materials, the report found.Cutting plastic production would also hit the bottom line of oil majors such as Exxon. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.iea.org/news/petrochemicals-set-to-be-the-largest-driver-of-world-oil-demand-latest-iea-analysis-finds">International Energy Agency forecast</a> that by 2050, petrochemical products like plastic would outpace trucks, aviation, and shipping in oil demand.Neil Nathan, a project scientist at UC Santa Barbara, and his team built an artificial-intelligence model of how 11 policies could curb plastic pollution. While many can make a big dent in the problem in the near term, pollution will eventually go up again without production caps, he said.The model has been shared with US negotiators, Nathan added. He's disappointed the US hasn't included some of the most impactful policies into its position, he said."If the US takes a position or is supportive of something, we typically see a snowball effect," he said.Editor's note: April 25, 2024 — This story has been updated to include a statement from the State Department and clarified to reflect that Neil Nathan said UC Santa Barbara's recommended policies can initially curb pollution, but without production caps, pollution will go up in the long term.

The US is under pressure to lead the way in reducing plastic pollution &mdash; but it keeps making more of it 

<ul><li>HUL has facilitated environmentally <keyword id="2335463" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="safe-disposal">safe disposal</keyword> of more than 1.2 lakh tons of post-consumer-use plastic waste since 2018. </li><li>HUL has partnered with various organisations for the collection of plastic waste.</li></ul>Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) today announced that from 2021 onwards it will collect and process more plastic packaging waste than the plastic in packaging used by it. The company will enable processing of over 1 lakh tons of post-consumer plastic waste through collection from all of the states and Union Territories. Since 2018, HUL has facilitated environmentally safe disposal of more than 1.2 lakh tons of post-consumer-use plastic waste. In 2020, despite the Covid pandemic, the Company stepped up its efforts in the reduction of plastic waste. This has been made possible through investment and partnerships to improve the waste management infrastructure in over 100 towns across India. HUL has partnered with various organisations for the collection of plastic waste including Saahas, Carpe, Recykal, Planet Savers, RaddiConnect, Geoycle, Ramky Enviro. Through its partners and with support from Municipal Corporations, the Company has reached out to housing societies and commercial establishments to improve the collection of plastic waste. The Company is also working in partnership with the <keyword id="162448" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="United-Nations-Development-Programme">United Nations Development Programme</keyword> (UNDP) and the international organization Xynteo. Through these partnerships, material recovery facilities have been set up in Mumbai to demonstrate the feasibility of inclusive end-to-end waste management solutions. Apart from this, the Education Department of Maharashtra, HUL and Xynteo have rolled out a digital school curriculum focused on the importance of segregation, collection and safe disposal of waste. The programme reached nearly one lakh children in Maharashtra during its pilot last year and is currently being scaled across the state. Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director, HUL, said, “Our vision is one where key stakeholders work together to ensure that plastic stays in the economy and out of the environment. As a responsible company, we are committed to playing our part. We believe that this is a collective responsibility, and each stakeholder needs to play an active role in managing plastic waste to fulfil the vision of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.“ Willem Uijen, Executive Director Supply Chain, HUL, explained, “This is in line with the commitment we have made for a circular economy. We have taken a head start on implementing the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework for plastic waste management. HUL has also developed an ecosystem of partners enabling the collection and safe processing of plastic packaging waste. We have now scaled up our joint efforts to collect more plastic packaging waste than our total plastics footprint, four years ahead of what we previously thought was possible.” Natasha Zarine, CEO of CARPE (Centre for Applied Research and People’s Engagement) said, “With HUL's support we have carried out disposal of large quantities of plastic waste since 2018 in a safe and environment friendly manner. The partnership has also helped positively impact the lives of workers involved in waste collection. HUL has been the pioneer in implementing EPR in India and their support has helped our start-up grow and expand into new territories. This helped us to work towards our national ambition of Swachh Bharat”.

HUL aims to achieve 100% plastic waste collection this year

<ul><li>Last week, <keyword id="178761" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hindustan-Unilever-Limited">Hindustan Unilever Limited</keyword> (HUL) launched its first in-store vending machine model, <keyword id="11605454" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-fill-machine">Smart Fill machine</keyword>, for its Home Care products with the aim to reuse, reduce and recycle plastic.</li><li>We talk to Prabha Narsimhan – Executive Director (Home Care) for Hindustan Unilever and Vice President (Home Care) for Unilever South Asia about the company's latest sustainable projects, how HUL has been focusing on becoming a sustainable company at a larger level, and future goals.</li></ul>Earlier this year, Hindustan Unilever Limited had announced that it would collect and process more plastic packaging waste than what it uses in a bid to achieve 100% plastic waste collection by the end of 2021. HUL has taken one more step forward towards sustainability and achieving this plastic waste neutrality goal. The FMCG giant has launched an in-store vending machine model, Smart Fill machine, for its Home Care products. It allows consumers to reuse and recycle plastic. According to Terrin.org, around <a href="https://www.teriin.org/sites/default/files/files/factsheet.pdf">43%</a> of manufactured plastic in India is used for packaging purposes, and is mostly single-use plastic. India produces an estimated 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, which is likely to reach 165 million tonnes by 2030. With this growing concern around plastic pollution generated by companies, more and more brands are realising the importance of becoming sustainable and relooking at their packaging strategy. The ban on single-use plastic has also further pushed manufacturers to look at green alternatives. So, to do its bit for the environment and undo some of the damage caused by plastic, HUL’s Smart Fill machine will allow its consumers to reuse their plastic bottles by refilling products from its brands like Surf Excel, Comfort and Vim, to begin with. <div type="Youtube" id="Bkjlj6S5c5E" title="HUL‘s ‘Smart Fill’ machine empowers consumers to reduce plastic waste" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bkjlj6S5c5E/mqdefault.jpg"></div> The vending machine has been installed at Reliance Smart Acme Mall in Mumbai and the project is currently in pilot stage. Sharing how HUL is slashing its product prices to nudge consumers to switch, Prabha Narsimhan – Executive Director (Home Care) for Hindustan Unilever and Vice President (Home Care) for Unilever South Asia said, “As an incentive, consumers are being offered Rs 30 off on the MRP or effective price at the store if they get their own bottle and Rs 15 off to those who purchase the Smart Fill bottle. The flagship brands that consumers can avail these benefits on include Surf Excel liquid for Top Load and Front Load washing machines; Comfort Fabric Conditioner and Vim Dishwash Liquid Gel.” The COVID-19 pandemic has added a safety dimension to sustainability that consumers and organisations must now balance. However, for HUL, the timing couldn’t be more perfect to launch this pilot. Sharing why, Narsimhan said, “COVID-19 in general has been difficult for businesses and brands across sectors. After most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, we have continued our on-ground efforts with health guidelines in place, for elimination of plastic litter. All our plastic waste collection partners mobilized their resources to minimize disruption without risking the health of their staff members and partners. In fact, COVID has improved our focus on responsible disposal of waste, which is why we feel it is a good time to start this pilot.” After gauging the response at Reliance Smart, the project will be implemented across the country. Narsimhan said, “We believe that upstream interventions such as shifting from single use towards re-use and refill models can be one of the most impactful solutions to plastic waste from an environmental, economic, and social perspective. This project will serve as an ideal pilot to gather learnings and use them to replicate it across the state and the country. Given that this is our first initiative, we have partnered with Reliance. In fact, we had partnered with Reliance Smart across 3 cities, in 2019 to carry out an awareness drive amongst customers on the importance of segregation of waste at the household level for effective waste management. Continuing with our shared vision to manage plastic waste, we have collaborated with Reliance Smart for this pilot project as well. We are hopeful that through our awareness building exercises, we will be able to ensure mass behavioral change in the consumers regarding the role that they can play in curbing this menace. We aim to use learnings from this pilot project in Mumbai to create a scalable refill business model in partnership with prominent retailers and modern trade outlets.” To further promote the cause and get more consumers to visit the mart, HUL has partnered with influencers in the vicinity. Narsimhan shared the marketing plan with us. She said, “One of the key aspects to draw visibility to the vending machine is in-store branding. Our effort would be to make sure that as more and more consumers visit and experience this model, they will be able to help us spread the awareness through word-of-mouth, which we plan to amplify further. We have also tied-up with a few influencers in the catchment areas around the store that will help us create surround sound around the Smart Fill. As the initiative scales up further, we will look at a more broad-based digital campaign that will help us further spread the message across consumers.” Millennials and GenZ today are much more conscious of the brands they choose. Their choice usually depends on how much of an effort a brand is making towards helping the environment and society at large. While Narsimhan agreed that young people are more likely to be the first adopters of refilling, HUL is trying to target all age groups. She said, “Millennials and Gen Zs are by far one of the most conscious consumers we have witnessed in the last two decades. Born in a digital age, this generation is socially aware, more health-conscious and understands the impact of their actions on the environment. All our sustainable interventions are designed to not just cater to their sensibilities, but towards the larger goal of driving real, on-ground impact that is accessible. As for the ‘Smart Fill’ project, we are catering to consumers across demographics including Millennials and Gen Zs. Since Reliance Smart is a retail outlet that garners footfalls across age groups; we intend to bolster awareness and empower our consumers to make smarter decisions when it comes to the issue of plastic waste generation.” But this isn’t the only sustainable effort that the FMCG giant has taken in this year. Walking us through the past action-filled 6 months, Narsimhan shared, “We have substituted commodity polymers with performance-based polymers, optimized the packaging designs and changed the packaging formats of our products to consume less plastic. For example: Pond’s Talc was recognized at the 24th DuPont Global Packaging Award for reducing packaging through innovation. We have developed coating technology to replace the polymer coating in our soap cartons. Our soap bar range cartons in skin cleansing are plastics free. We have started migrating to recyclable flexibles across our portfolio starting with pilots in few brands like soap wrapper of Lux and Lifebuoy, Sunsilk shampoo sachets and Pond’s tubes. We have also started using rPET (80% recycled PET) in our blister packs for personal care brands such as Pepsodent toothbrush, Vaseline lip care. We have launched Vim liquid bottles having 50% rPET. We have initiated use of rHDPE (25% recycled HDPE) in our personal care bottles like Tresemme, Sunsilk, Surf Excel Laundry liquid and Comfort fabric conditioner.” Brands play a huge role in bringing about change in society and Narsimhan said that brands should use that to empower consumers to make better choices. She said, “Consumers relate to brands that resonate with their own way of thinking. Brands that don’t just advocate such ideas but put them into measurable, result-oriented action. Therefore, brands can and must play their part in empowering consumers to make sustainable choices. And one of the key aspects of this empowerment journey is by offering choices that are accessible and hassle-free. With our plastic waste collection initiative and now the refill machine, we are encouraging and empowering our consumers to be a part of this solution. These small changes that consumers make on a day-to-day basis can lead to a sizable impact overall.” When it comes to sustainability, we often hear the three popular R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in every marketing campaign. Many companies have promoted only recycle and reuse. However, reduce hits at consumption. As a result, HUL has also formulated long-term goals to focus on reduction of plastic. It has committed that by 2025 100% of the company’s plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable, or compostable and halving use of virgin plastic by reducing the absolute use of plastic packaging and accelerating use of recycled plastic. Shedding some light on HUL’s larger sustainability efforts and vision, Narsimhan said, “We are committed to accelerating a transition to a circular economy, moving from the linear take-make-dispose model to a regenerative approach, which keeps materials at their highest value for as long as possible. We recently announced that from 2021 onwards, we will collect and facilitate environment-friendly processing of more plastic packaging waste than the plastic we use in our packaging. Since 2018, we have facilitated safe disposal of more than 1.5 lakh tons of post-consumer use plastic waste with the help of collection and disposal partners across India. We are also working closely with the government and other partners such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Xynteo for end-to-end pilot projects for plastic waste management. Apart from this, the Education Department of Maharashtra, HUL and Xynteo have rolled out a digital school curriculum focused on the importance of segregation, collection and safe disposal of waste. The programme reached nearly one lakh children in Maharashtra during its pilot last year and is currently being scaled across the state.”

Hindustan Unilever Limited’s Prabha Narsimhan shares latest steps that the company has taken towards sustainability to achieve its goal of 100% plastic waste collection by the end of 2021

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A few states and some countries are passing laws to combat plastic waste.</li><li><keyword id="11892889" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="california" source="Orion">California</keyword> is the fourth US state that will make companies pay for packaging waste.</li></ul>The first half of 2022 has seen a wave of new policies cracking down on <keyword id="12318689" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="plastic-pollution" source="Orion">plastic pollution</keyword> in the US and countries like <keyword id="6356687" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="canada" source="Orion">Canada</keyword> and <keyword id="11892747" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>. In recent weeks, California became the fourth state that will force companies to pay for cleaning up packaging waste, while Canada and India have banned the production and import of certain <keyword id="14446315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="single-use-plastic" source="Orion">single-use plastic</keyword> products. Advocates say the momentum feels like a turning point in the global fight to eliminate the eight million metric tons of plastic waste <a href="https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/">that flows into oceans each year</a>. According to the United Nations, this is the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck every minute. The vast majority of plastic never gets recycled and ends up in landfills, in incinerators, or as litter on land and in waterways. The US <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/26132/chapter/1">is the world's largest contributor</a> to the problem despite representing <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/us-population/">less than 5% of the global population</a>."The public is increasingly making the connection between plastic and so many other issues, which is expanding the coalition of groups and individuals who care deeply about this," Anja Brandon, a US plastics-policy analyst at the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, said. "That, in turn, is expanding the number of policymakers who recognize plastic pollution as critically important." Brandon said those connections include how plastic is made from the fossil fuels that drive the climate crisis. Local governments in the US often build plastic-manufacturing plants, landfills, and incinerators <a href="https://blogs.newschool.edu/news/2022/05/tishman-environment-and-design-centers-work-reveals-most-incinerators-pollute-low-income-and-communities-of-color-and-worsen-climate-change/">in marginalized communities</a>, which then disproportionately expose these communities to pollution. Researchers are also discovering tiny particles of plastic — known as microplastics — <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/microplastics-detected-in-human-blood-180979826/">in human blood</a> and stool, raising questions about potential health effects.The <keyword id="11896309" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sustainability" source="Orion">sustainability</keyword> push has led some big brands and plastic makers to promise to make more recyclable or compostable packaging and to channel money toward local infrastructure so producers can get their materials back and reuse them. "We're investing in new technology to make sure the percent of recycled content in packaging increases and designing things to be lighter," Jen Ronk, the senior sustainability manager at Dow North America Packaging &amp; Specialty Plastics, said. The company <a href="http://www.businessfor2030.org/dow">also pledged to spend more than $1 billion</a> on efforts to manage plastic waste. Here's a rundown of the latest action: <h2>California</h2>On June 30, California Gov. Gavin Newsom <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB54">signed the most aggressive restrictions</a> on plastic in the country into law. By 2032, producers must use 25% less plastic in packaging for items like shampoo, food containers, and cups. Ocean Conservancy estimates that this provision alone will <a href="https://oceanconservancy.org/news/sb54-california-righting-ship-leading-u-s-ocean-plastic-pollution-crisis/">reduce plastic production by 23 million tons</a>, or 26 times the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge. By the same date, at least 65% of plastic must be recycled, a major jump from the <a href="https://sd26.senate.ca.gov/index.php/news/press-release/senator-allen-introduces-bill-phase-out-unsustainable-single-use-plastics">less than 15% that is recycled today</a>. "We know that to reduce the plastic-pollution crisis, we have to make less in the first place and reuse more through a circular economy," Brandon said, adding that the <keyword id="14446313" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="california-law" source="Orion">California law</keyword> is the first to address both sides of that equation. Plastic makers will pay $5 billion into a state fund to mitigate the environmental and health impacts of pollution from their products, as well. The industry will pay for collecting, sorting, and recycling waste through a fee on packaging, which will shift the burden away from taxpayers who now fund municipal-waste management. That policy, known as extended-producer responsibility, has picked up steam over the last year as Maine, Oregon, and most recently <keyword id="11918419" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="colorado" source="Orion">Colorado</keyword>, passed similar legislation. <h2>Colorado </h2>In June, the state passed its own extended-producer responsibility law that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/colorado-to-tax-bottles-and-packaging-for-recycling-2022-6">slaps a fee on packaging such as bottles, food wrappers, and cardboard</a> to help fund recycling and keep waste out of landfills. Colorado's statewide <a href="https://cdphe.colorado.gov/colorado-recycling-totals">recycling rate for all materials is 15%</a>, less than half the national average of 32%. The law itself doesn't set mandatory recycling targets, but brands and packaging makers have to develop some for 2030 after they form a nonprofit to run the new recycling program.The law got rare public endorsements from big business, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Walmart. They joined forces with environmental groups like Recycle Colorado, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Sierra Club. <h2>Canada</h2><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/single-use-plastic-guidance.html">On June 22, the government announced</a> it would ban companies from making and importing certain single-use plastics by the end of the year as part of a sweeping effort to fight pollution and the climate crisis.Most plastic grocery bags, silverware, and straws fall under the ban, with a few exceptions for medical needs. According to the government, Canadians throw away more than 3 million tons of plastic waste every year and the country only recycles about 9% of it. "Companies don't make Canada-specific packaging or US-state specific packaging," Brandon said. "They are trying to maximize efficiency in a globalized supply chain, so these policies will have far-reaching ripple effects."<h2>India </h2>On July 1, India's government announced a ban on single-use plastics covering 19 items that are most likely to wind up as litter, such as straws, cups, and some disposable bags. The ban makes it illegal to make or import these products.According to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/01/1109476072/india-plastics-ban-begins">the Associated Press</a>, thousands of other plastic items aren't covered, though the federal government has set recycling targets for manufacturers. According to its federal pollution watchdog, India generated more than 4.1 million metric tons of plastic waste in 2020. This decade the country is also trying to reduce the amount of greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product — known as carbon intensity — by 45%. Curbing plastic manufacturing can help India meet that target, said advocates of the ban.

Fighting our plastic problem: Bans and recycling mandates gain steam in the US and abroad

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Great Pacific Ocean Patch refers to a big swirling soup of plastic in the ocean.</li><li>A new study found the patch was full of sea life that was living on the plastic debris.</li></ul>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ocean-cleanup-catches-plastic-great-pacific-garbage-patch-2019-10">Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a> is more than just a swirling vortex of plastic floating in the open ocean over 1,000 miles from land — it's also become an ecosystem hosting a variety of sea creatures that cling to the debris.Scientists studying the infamous trash heap have found dozens of marine species that call the patch home, according to a study published Monday in the journal <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=b6d358e6bc7e8c54cf39f32104865419eeb6c0f2a4993128b7c7de717f5d992f&amp;postID=643dc048722a686bb6197f9f&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41559-023-01997-y%23Sec22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.They found 46 different species of invertebrates living on the debris, with the vast majority being species that are typically only found along coastlines, rather than the middle of the open ocean. The creatures included sponges, oysters, anemones, crustaceans, barnacles, and worms.The <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/garbagepatch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a> typically refers to an area of the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii in which floating trash concentrates due to factors like wind and currents. The area — which is more like a giant trash soup rather than one large continuous heap — has become an unfortunate example of <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/marinedebris/plastics-in-the-ocean.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plastic pollution in Earth's oceans</a>.The researchers collected 105 pieces of floating garbage from the patch and examined them for signs of life, ultimately identifying 484 invertebrates organisms. More than 70% of the trash collected was carrying coastal species."We expected to find some; we just didn't expect to find them at such frequency and diversity," study co-author <a href="https://profiles.si.edu/display/nHaramL362018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Linsey Haram</a>, then a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, told <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/04/animals-migrating-great-pacific-garbage-patch/673744/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Atlantic</a>.The findings also contradicted the assumption that coastal species could not survive in areas of open ocean.The authors said the results suggest the lack of available surface "limited the colonization of the open ocean by coastal species, rather than physiological or ecological constraints as previously assumed."<div type="image" title="The Great Pacific Garbage Patch refers to areas of marine debris concentration in the North Pacific Ocean." height="572" width="900" msid="99570400" hostid="261" sizebytes="28180"></div>"They're having a blast," study coauthor Matthias Egger, head of environmental and social affairs at The Ocean Cleanup, told <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pacific-ocean-garbage-patch-is-bursting-with-life-e57b04f3?mod=hp_lead_pos13" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a> of the coastal species living on the trash. "That's really a shift in the scientific understanding." The study also noted that many of the coastal animals were living alongside animals that are at home in the open ocean on the same piece of debris, putting together species that historically were unlikely to come into contact.Biogeographer Ceridwen Fraser at the University of Otago, who was not involved in the study, told The Atlantic: "As humans, we are creating new types of ecosystems that have potentially never been seen before."

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is actually a unique ocean ecosystem teeming with sea creatures that cling to the plastic trash

<ul class="summary-list"><li>California pays people up to 10 cents for recycling certain bottles and cans.</li><li>The state credits the program with reducing waste, but it's also been a target of criminal schemes.</li></ul>Who knew that "recycling fraud" was even a thing?When California's top law enforcement official charged a family of eight with ripping off the state's recycling program — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/family-accused-of-recycling-fraud-after-collecting-76-million-2023-7">for millions of dollars</a> — it was likely the first time that many people became aware that there is real (and dirty) money to be made in the field of used beverage containers.Since 1987, California authorities credit the state's cash incentives with saving more than 300 billion beverage containers from ending up in landfills. Most bottles and cans sold in the state include a 5 or 10 cent surcharge, called the California Redemption Value, that consumers can get back if they recycle the container."In addition to saving energy, natural resources, and preventing carbon dioxide from being released into the air, bringing bottles and cans to the recycling center will put cash in your pocket," says CalRecycle, which administers the beverage container program.But where there is money to be made, there will be people trying to make it, some in less than honorable ways. And because of a mix factors — bureaucratic and political inertia, and a CRV program that largely relies on self-reported claims from those handling recyclable material — the opportunity exists to make a quick, illegal buck.That's "the central problem," Liza Tucker, an advocate with the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog, told Insider. "It's an honor system — and, frankly, you can't trust anybody."<h2>Theft by recycling</h2>That California is potentially losing tens of million dollars a year to recycling fraud is not news to anyone who has looked into it.In <a href="https://consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/CASH%20FOR%20TRASH%202022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a report</a> released by Consumer Watchdog last year, Tucker described a recycling program that is ripe for fraud, including by the industry's biggest players, including waste haulers, who collect deposits for recycled goods in curbside bins, and recycling centers themselves.The issue, in a nutshell, is that while there are several known ways to scam the system, it is relatively difficult to get caught.People can turn in lots of bottles without having to verify their identity, usually just writing their name on a sheet of paper; recycling centers can overstate how much they are collecting, their claims — often handwritten — not regularly checked by state auditors; and processors, who sell recycled goods to companies seeking raw materials, can pad out their margins by falsely representing those materials as eligible for the CRV.<h2>Hauling from out of state</h2>Although the CRV provides a clear financial incentive to recycle — and a way to make some money for those struggling to find steady employment — the system contains a clear flaw: There's no obvious way to tell whether a bottle or can was originally purchased in California. That means someone could collect the deposit without ever having paid it themselves, just by bringing in containers from other states that don't charge a recycling fee.And people do this, en masse. The family accused of ripping off the state's recycling program to the tune of more than $7 million is accused of doing so by obtaining thousands of pounds of containers from Arizona, some purchased as bulk scrap, and bringing them to California. Prosecutors say that constitutes felony grand theft and fraud.The scale of the suspected fraud may have been a red flag, prompting an investigation. In other cases, people have been caught by sheer chance. In one case, police followed a truck they suspected of carrying containers from Arizona all the way to San Diego, where they dutifully pulled into a recycling center, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2012-oct-07-la-me-can-fraud-20121007-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Los Angeles Times reported</a>.According to Consumer Watchdog, people who import out-of-state containers may do so as part of large rackets, in collaboration with corrupt recycling centers that process the hauls "under the cover of night." Alternatively, perpetrators sell the containers on the streets of California, promising buyers they can turn a profit by redeeming them for the CRV.A 2014 report from the California state auditor's offices said that out-of-state bottles "may represent the largest fraud risk facing the beverage program." It noted that more than 22 billion cans were sold in a single year outside the state of California — but containing the state's CRV logo. If just 3% of those cans were brought into the state and redeemed, it would represent a taxpayer loss of more $33 million.As far as recycling scams go: "It's very common," Tucker said, "but it's not the only one."<h2>Faking it</h2>Trash companies and recycling centers are reimbursed by the state for all the CRV-eligible containers they collect. California pays by weight — think: big bricks of smashed cans — but also pays a bit more if the items were deposited at a recycling center vs. a curbside bin. This too provides an incentive to fib.<div type="image" title="forklift lifting cans that have been condensed into big blocks" height="5208" width="8055" msid="102236369" hostid="261"></div>In 2012, in a case highlighted by Consumer Watchdog, the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2012-oct-07-la-me-can-fraud-20121007-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported that</a> a former supervisor at a recycling center in San Francisco accused his ex-employer of looking the other way at fraud, claiming that workers were routinely misrepresenting hauls as having come from the center itself, leading to higher reimbursement as cans and bottles collected at a center are easier to process than those from bins, where they may have been contaminated."That's a huge scandal," Tucker said. And it's the sort of thing one could still get away with, she argued, due to the system's reliance on self-reporting.<h2>Double dipping </h2>In this scheme, recycling processors simply "run a loaded truck over a weight scale for a second time" and give it a fresh serial number, according to Consumer Watchdog.In 2015, a California-based metal company agreed to <a href="https://www.recyclingtoday.com/news/calrecycle-awarded-fund-settlement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pay the state $1.74 million</a> after investigators accused it of redeeming the CRV for millions of pounds of cans and bottles. It was then supposed to sell these recyclables to someone who would turn them into products; instead, it sold them to people who turned around and redeemed them again.<h2>Keep it (under) 100 </h2>According to CalRecycle, no single person may collect the CRV for more than 100 pounds of aluminum or 100 pounds of plastic each day."Assurances should be made that individuals are not attempting to circumvent the regulations by delivering material throughout the day, delivering material in different vehicles, or sending other persons in the same vehicle to the scale with split loads," it says.But right now there is little incentive to spot or report an obvious red flag, like someone coming in every day with 99 pounds of soda bottles. Aware of this, an unscrupulous processor — which packages up recycled goods and sells them to companies that turn them into new products — could buy up materials from a recycling center, put them in bags of up to 99 pounds, and then distribute and bring them to other centers, including ones they operate themselves."The CRV money is claimed by the recycling centers via the same processors who run the same scam over and over again," according to Consumer Watchdog.<h2>An extra 2.5% </h2>Under California law, recycling centers are allowed a small discrepancy between what they say they are processing and what they actually do. This allows for the fact that some scales may be slightly off or material lost in transit.But it also enables small-time fraud: 2.5%, to be precise."For example, a recycling center can report a load weighs 10,240 pounds, but at the processing facility the same load weighs only 10,000 pounds," Consumer Watchdog says. The self-reported weight, provided it is only off by up to 2.5%, is what the state pays out for."There's always going to be things jostling around — stuff falls off a truck, right? That's all normal. But you can claim large quantities of additional weight," Tucker said. "That's a problem."<h2>Mix in other junk, like wine bottles</h2>Not every glass or plastic container in California has a CRV. Five-gallon jugs of water, for example, are not covered by the program. Nor are wine bottles.But who's to say that, behind all those bales of recyclable items in a shipping container, there aren't literally tons of aluminum and glass that don't belong? A processor could ship off a bunch of mislabeled material abroad — scrap aluminum and CRV-eligible aluminum would receive the same shipping label — and the foreign receiver, in on the scheme, would then sign off, "attesting to an all-CRV aluminum load," Consumer Watchdog says, "and no one would be the wiser."<h2>Why is this still happening?</h2>In a statement, CalRecycle told Insider it has taken steps to address fraud amid a record haul of 19.5 billion beverage containers last year."This includes expanded use of tools like investigations, audits, inspections, risk assessments such as CRV volume reviews, and analyses of imported material entering California to shut down fraudulent operators and increase arrests," it said.But critics say the state could do more. It could require recycling centers to verify identification — and, in the 21st century, store that information electronically — when someone turns up with cans and bottles in bulk, making it easier for auditors to spot abuse. It could also, in general, do more to verify what recycling centers and processors claim.So why is fraud still such a persistent issue? One possible answer is that there hasn't been much sufficient public outrage, at least to the point that lawmakers feel compelled to act. And there are people who would be upset if the status quo were to change."There are a lot of special interests feeding at this trough," Tucker said. Trash haulers, for instance, are not only getting paid to pick up garbage but — unlike in any other state — getting paid, by the pound, for bottles and cans people thrown in their curbside bins, despite that material often being contaminated and unable to be recycled."So there isn't a willingness [to change]," Tucker argued. "There's an inertia in the system."Have a news tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cdavis@insider.com</a>This story was updated with comment from CalRecycle.

What is recycling fraud? How scammers cheat California's program and collect millions of dollars for bottles and cans

<ul class="summary-list"><li>America's largest waste hauler is investing in a company that recycles plastic shrink wrap.</li><li>Flexible plastic accounts for nearly a quarter of all US plastic waste, yet only 5% gets recycled. </li></ul>Nearly all of that plastic shrink-wrap around newly arrived furniture or the boxes delivered to Costco, Home Depot, and other big retailers ends up in the landfill. The same goes for plastic grocery bags.This kind of flexible plastic accounts for nearly a quarter of the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/documents/2018_tables_and_figures_dec_2020_fnl_508.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">32 million metric tons of plastic waste produced in the US each year</a>, yet only 5% gets recycled. An acquisition by the largest waste hauler in North America this week suggests there might be a pathway to reuse much more of it. Waste Management, which works with local governments and commercial businesses to dispose or recycle the things we discard, <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wm-to-acquire-controlling-interest-in-avangard-innovatives-us-business-301622561.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">said on Tuesday it will acquire</a> a controlling interest in Avangard Innovative's US business. The companies aren't disclosing the value of the deal, which is expected to close this year."When only 5% of this material is being recycled, that represents a big growth opportunity," Jim Fish, the president and CEO of Waste Management, told Insider. "It's also an opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves from our competition."Avangard, a Houston-based business that handles hard-to-recycle plastics, is three decades old but has attracted a flurry of interest in recent years as big food-and-beverage brands and chemical companies pledge to use more recycled plastic. States including California, New Jersey, and Washington will require certain single-use plastic packages to contain more recycled content in the coming years.Avangard is expanding its Houston operation and Waste Management said it will build another plant in the Midwest. Within five years, the venture could be recycling some 181,000 metric tons of plastic film, the companies said.The material will mostly come from supermarkets and big-box stores, Tara Hemmer, Waste Management's chief sustainability officer, said. Right now, flexible plastic isn't accepted at the company's own recycling centers, but it's exploring ways to do that, Hemmer said. The deal with Avangard, which will operate under the name Natura PCR, is part of Waste Management's <a href="https://investors.wm.com/static-files/fffacacc-5769-413d-9d12-fce908c36753" target="_blank" rel="nofollow nofollow noopener sponsored sponsored">plan to spend up to $800 million through 2025</a> to automate its recycling plants and expand into underserved markets. For now, Waste Management is focusing on Avangard's traditional mechanical-recycling capabilities — sorting, cleaning, and grinding — rather than emerging chemical-recycling technology, Hemmer said. In February, Avangard <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/petrochemicals/020122-avangard-honeywell-to-build-cutting-edge-plastics-to-naphtha-plant-in-texas" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">announced a partnership with Honeywell</a> to build a chemical-recycling plant by 2023. The plastics industry is investing <a href="https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2022/06/24/10778620/interview-avangard-innovative-ceo-discusses-challenges-opportunities-of-chemical-recycling-feedstock/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">billions of dollars to expand</a> chemical, or "advanced," recycling, arguing it can handle more kinds of plastic waste. But environmentalists say it's a false solution, <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/chemical-recycling-greenwashing-incineration-ib.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">citing research</a> that found most US plants operating today are small and burning plastics for fuel, not turning waste into new plastic products. The chemical giant Dow is investing in both strategies, with more than 50 "circularity projects and partnerships" in the works, Nestor de Mattos, the North America commercial vice president of Dow's packaging arm, said. The company has been a customer of Avangard's plastic pellets since 2020, which advances Dow's goal to help collect and recycle 1 million metric tons of plastic this decade — a figure that accounts for a fraction of Dow's overall plastic production.

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