Companies signed up to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Global Commitment have collectively avoided 14 million tonnes of virgin plastics since 2018, according to a new report published by the NGO.

The signatories, representing 20 per cent of the global plastic packaging market, have also tripled their use of recycled content from 4.6 per cent in 2018 to 15.9 per cent in 2024. However, according to the Ellen McArthur Foundation (EMF), the remaining 80 per cent of the global market has lagged significantly behind, with global virgin plastic use increasing by 13 per cent whilst signatories reduced theirs by six per cent.

The Foundation's 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business calls on companies to work collectively rather than individually to drive market-wide transformation and identifies three approaches: collective advocacy to shape policy, collaborative action to share risks and costs on systemic barriers, and aligned individual action within businesses.

Rob Opsomer, Executive Lead for Plastics at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, commented: "The companies that act now can help shape effective policies and make circular solutions the new normal. By working together, they'll cut transition costs and build resilience in a fast-changing world."

First-wave signatories to the Global Commitment 2030 include Amcor, Borealis, Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, L'Oréal, Nestlé, SC Johnson, PepsiCo, TOMRA and Unilever, with the Foundation calling on the rest of the market to join over the next 12 months.

Antonia Wanner, Chief Sustainability Officer at Nestlé, said: "Building on years of effort to evolve our packaging, we look forward to collective action on the 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business, working with the Foundation and value chain partners. Together we aim to overcome systemic barriers by building broader systems and a policy landscape for the circular economy."

Pablo Costa, Global Head of Packaging, Digital and Transformation at Unilever, added: "Ending plastic pollution and keeping plastic in circulation requires innovation, infrastructure and enabling policy, combined with focused, collective action and advocacy right across the plastics value chain."

Systemic barriers

The agenda identifies three systemic barriers that individual businesses cannot overcome alone: scaling reuse models, tackling flexible plastic packaging waste, and developing collection and recycling infrastructure.

According to the report, reuse systems often only become economically viable at scale, requiring shared collection and cleaning infrastructure plus widespread consumer adoption. The Foundation provides modelling suggesting that collaborative reuse systems involving 40 per cent of the French beverage market with shared infrastructure could reduce costs by 21 per cent compared to single-use, whilst individual action by just two per cent of the market would increase costs by 35 per cent.

Flexible packaging represents the fastest-growing plastic packaging type but faces the lowest recycling rates and highest leakage. EMF states that a lack of alignment on solutions is preventing the R&D investment needed to increase viability of alternatives.

On infrastructure, the report notes that whilst global plastic packaging production exceeds 140 million tonnes annually, only around 15 per cent is recycled and 40 per cent is mismanaged. The Foundation states that individual company actions such as designing recyclable packaging cannot alone unlock the investment needed to build effective collection and recycling systems.

These challenges occur against a backdrop of pressure on the plastics reprocessing sector, with Plastics Recyclers Europe warning that the continent faces losing recycling capacity amounting to nearly one million tonnes since 2023.

Without further action, the Foundation cites research indicating that mismanaged plastic waste is predicted to nearly double from 62 million tonnes in 2020 to 121 million tonnes in 2050, whilst greenhouse gas emissions from plastics will rise from 2.45 gigatonnes CO2e to 3.35 gigatonnes CO2e.

Business advocacy and treaty context

The report positions business advocacy as essential to accelerating effective policy development. The Foundation cites Extended Producer Responsibility as an example where industry support helped accelerate policy implementation, with jurisdictions implementing EPR increasing from 61 in 2021 to 113 in 2025.

More than 300 businesses have joined the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty to advocate for harmonised, legally-binding global rules. The coalition's efforts continue despite negotiations for a global plastic pollution treaty ending without agreement in August 2025, after oil-producing countries including the United States blocked proposals to cap plastic production and phase out hazardous chemicals.

The Foundation states it will focus on catalysing collaborative action to create conditions for reuse to scale, drive material innovation for flexible plastic packaging, and demonstrate collection and recycling infrastructure in the Global South.