Report: Companies need to measure and report their plastic use

By Gayle S. Putrich

Report: Companies need to measure and report their plastic use

The consumer goods sector spends $75 billion a year on plastic, with the food and soft drink industries leading the way in spending, though companies’ willingness and ability to disclose how much plastic they use varies wildly and is often nonexistent, according to a unique new report on consumer plastics being released today.

The report, Valuing Plastic: The Business Case for Measuring, Managing and Disclosing Plastic Use in the Consumer Goods Industry, by the Plastic Disclosure Project with help from research firm Trucost, uses natural capital valuation to identify pollution or resource overuse hotspots in the consumer goods industry.

The report found companies’ disclosure of plastic use to be poor and inconsistent. Less than half of the 100 companies surveyed reported one or more useable data points, according to the report, with no apparent correlation between a sector’s disclosure rate and its plastic use or spending.

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