Earthwatch has joined the WRAP Plastics Pact
1st May 2019
Following on from the recent publication of our Plastic Rivers and Microplastics: How should business respond? reports, Earthwatch are happy to announce that we have joined WRAP’s UK Plastics Pact as an engagement partner!
This partnership will enable us to continue sharing knowledge and contributing expertise to different governments, businesses, local authorities, NGOs and citizens – some already known and others new to us. The UK Plastics Pact, is one of the first national initiatives participating in the Ellen MacArthur Foundations Plastics Pact network and has an impressive list of partners to date.
By 2025, it aims to transform the UK plastic packaging sector and help stop plastics polluting the environment with the following targets,
It is a bold and unique initiative that will transform the UKs plastic system! Bringing together the entire plastics value chain with a common set of targets, moving towards a system which keeps plastic in the economy and, crucially, out of the environment. Our recent Plastic Rivers work has discovered that 37.5%, of the 193,238 plastic items counted across nine studies in European rivers, were consumer-related plastic items frequently encountered in daily life. The UK Plastics Pact will encompass innovation, research and new business models to rethink and redesign what packaging we put on the market in the first place, and how we can encourage more re-use of packaging with the aim of lowering the amount ending up as pollution.
Justin Robinson, Development Manager in Corporate Partnerships at Earthwatch said,
Joining the WRAP Plastic Pact makes sense from both a partnership and a strategic point of view for Earthwatch. The aims of the Plastic Pact are similar to those of Earthwatch so partnering will enable knowledge share both ways moving us all closer to responsible plastic use. I look forward to hearing fellow Plastic Pact members views and ideas on plastic use and I am confident that Earthwatch will be able to add value to collective group discussions.
Plastic pollution is a main focus area for Earthwatch research and this partnership is an ideal way to reach more people and champion a circular economy for plastic, ultimately keeping plastic out of our waterways.