Plastic has a bright and sustainable future

Plastic has an image problem. This 19th-century invention has acquired a negative reputation because of our wasteful economic model, but plastic is a valuable resource – and the industry has a vital role to play in the sustainability transition. Thankfully, a lower carbon, circular plastics model is taking hold, bringing many opportunities for investors. 
 

Building momentum in plastics

Society has come to rely on this durable material for a multitude of products and applications, but we have prioritised cost and convenience over planetary health. Our current take-make-waste economic model harms nature through excessive materials extraction and, ultimately, crude waste disposal and pollution.

We need to rethink the plastics value chain, changing how we produce, use, and recycle plastic to minimise waste. At LOIM, our Plastic Circularity strategy invests in companies that promote circularity in the production, use and end of life for plastic. We estimate that the transition to this model will require as much as USD 1.2 trillion in capital by 2040.¹

To show why we think this is such an attractive opportunity, we recently hosted a Plastics Roundtable for clients in London. The talk was moderated by Selina Tyler, LOIM Head of UK Wholesale Distribution. Speakers included Michael Urban, LOIM Chief Sustainability Strategist, and  Martyn Tickner, Chief Advisor Circular Solutions at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW).

LOIM collaborates with the AEPW, which acts as a technical advisor to inform our strategy in areas like product delivery models and design, waste management systems and recycling technologies.

Urban and Tickner spoke of the potential for a plastics industry that emits less carbon dioxide, produces less toxic waste, and minimises harm to biodiversity and natural capital. This is achievable through innovative design, new business models, increased durability, advances in recycling and new feedstocks to replace fossil fuels in making plastics.

Transforming the plastics industry will not be easy. There are many complex challenges. However, we are excited by the possibilities and opportunities in this space.

Innovation pipeline

Plastic recycling is one of the biggest areas of both challenge and opportunity, largely because plastic products and packaging are highly engineered, sophisticated materials. Tickner spoke of how even simple things like crisp packets or the packaging for exporting kiwis from New Zealand involve years, even decades, of development and refinement. That kiwi packaging is designed so the fruit arrives weeks later to another country in excellent condition, accounting for things like exposure to oxygen and water.

This means there are thousands of different types of plastic, and each type can have thousands of grades with different performance characteristics. This creates enormous complexity when it comes to sorting and recycling.

Tickner spoke about promising innovations being deployed in recycling and sorting, involving technologies enabled by artificial intelligence. Governments are also implementing EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) policies to make manufacturers more accountable for products throughout their life cycle. This is encouraging innovation and changes to increase recyclability.  
 

Another big hurdle is finding more sustainable raw materials for plastics. Right now, 90% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, and about half are single use. We can address this with a combination of renewable feedstocks and the adoption of circular economy principles so we use these products more efficiently.  

As with other aspects of the sustainability transition, there is an imperative to ensure that any plastic circularity solutions do not cause negative externalities in other parts of the environment. The cultivation of any alternative feedstocks, for example, should not be detrimental to land and forests. At LOIM, our investment process includes verifying negative externalities on planetary boundaries.
 

Unlike tobacco

Speakers at our roundtable discussed how an analogy is often made between the plastics and tobacco industries. Due to the take-make-waste economic model, plastic often carries equally negative connotations.

However, plastic is not the tobacco of our time. There is no upside to smoking tobacco; it’s a dead end. Plastics are a vital resource, used to create valuable products used in health care, to reduce food waste and to enable fuel-efficient transportation, to name just some examples.

A circular plastic industry can benefit both the Earth and the economy, with tremendous growth prospects. And it is not a pipe dream.

[1] Source: Systemiq; Lau, Winnie and Reddy, Simon. Breaking the Plastic Wave: Top Findings for Preventing Plastic Pollution, The Pew Charitable Trusts. Published 23 July 2020.

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