Plastic: From the “Dream Material” to the Next Transition

Vol.12— The Background to the Global Plastics Treaty —

By the 1970s, the side effects of this revolution became visible.
Plastic waste accumulated faster than society could manage it.
Its durability — once a virtue — became an environmental liability.
Landfills overflowed, incineration produced toxic emissions, and plastics began infiltrating oceans and ecosystems.

In 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) launched negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty —
an international agreement aimed at ending plastic pollution across its entire lifecycle.

Yet progress has been slow.

Four Structural Barriers to Agreement

1. Economic asymmetry: oil-producing, manufacturing, and importing nations hold conflicting interests.
2. Fossil fuel dependency: plastics are intertwined with the petrochemical economy.
3. Technological and infrastructure gaps: recycling systems vary widely between countries.
4. Equitable responsibility: who pays, and who acts first, remains contested.

The debate reveals a deeper truth: plastics are not merely an environmental issue —
they are a governance, equity, and design challenge at the planetary scale.

Still, the very act of negotiating marks progress.
For the first time, the world is discussing how to redesign the material economy itself.

Chapter 4: When Consensus Stalls, Innovation Advances

While global negotiations remain complex, nations and industries are already acting.

Europe: Designing Circularity through Policy

• EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (2021–): phased bans and design requirements.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): producers must ensure collection and recycling.
• Digital Product Passport (DPP): full material traceability across value chains.

Japan: Building Systemic Circularity

• Plastic Resource Circulation Act (2022): clarifying business responsibilities for reuse and recycling.
• Local governments and private sectors are piloting refill, reuse, and collection models.

Corporate Leadership

• Patagonia: extending product lifespans through repair services.
• Unilever: pioneering refill stations and concentrated products.
• TerraCycle: transforming hard-to-recycle materials into new resources.

These approaches differ by context but share a common direction —
moving from material substitution to systemic redesign.

Chapter 5: The Circular Economy as a Design Framework

The circular economy does not seek to eliminate plastic but to reimagine its place in society.

Three key strategies:

1. Reduce: redesign packaging and eliminate unnecessary use.
2. Reuse: adopt refill systems, shared logistics, and long-life design.
3. Recycle: develop chemical and molecular recycling technologies for closed-loop systems.

Alongside these, biobased and biodegradable materials are emerging as complementary innovations — not replacements, but extensions of the circular vision.

Chapter 6: From Regulation to Collaboration

Globally, the conversation is shifting from “banning” to “redesigning and governing together.”
Plastic remains vital to healthcare, food security, logistics, and energy systems.
The challenge, therefore, is not removal — but responsible transformation.

Key questions for the next decade include:

• How can industries decouple plastic use from fossil fuel extraction?
• How can design ensure circularity from the start?
• How can developing economies leapfrog to sustainable systems without losing competitiveness?

Answering these requires cross-sectoral cooperation —
between policy, business, academia, and consumers alike.

Conclusion: Reclaiming the Dream

Plastic remains one of humanity’s most transformative materials.
Its existence is not a failure; our linear system of production and disposal is.
The path forward lies not in erasing plastic but in redesigning the systems around it —
guided by circular thinking, innovation, and shared responsibility.

The question is no longer “how to eliminate plastic,”
but “how to make plastic part of a regenerative economy.”

If future generations look back and say,

“The 2020s were the decade when humanity began to redesign its material world,”
then perhaps, the dream of plastic will have found its second life.

References

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP): Global Plastics Treaty Draft
• Ellen MacArthur Foundation: The New Plastics Economy
• OECD: Plastic Pollution Dashboard
• Ministry of the Environment, Japan: Plastic Resource Circulation Strategy
• McKinsey & Company: The Circular Economy — Moving from Theory to Practice

Learn & Apply Circular Thinking

At Circular E, we explore the evolving landscape of the circular economy across Europe, Japan, and ASEAN — bridging global insights with local innovation.

👉 YEJapan | Circular Economy Consulting
https://yejapan.com/circular-economy
We provide practical consulting services on ESPR, DPP, ISO 59000 series, and 9R implementation, helping organizations translate circular principles into real business practice.

👤 Author Profile

Eiji Yamamoto (CEO, YEJapan / Founder, Circular E)

With deep expertise in the manufacturing industry, Eiji Yamamoto supports the development and implementation of circular economy strategies across Europe and Japan.
Based in the Netherlands and Tokyo, he advises companies on applying ESPR (Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation), DPP (Digital Product Passport), and the ISO 59000 series, while guiding organizations in integrating 9R-based circular models into their operations.

💡 You can also add a closing line for Substack editions:

✉️ Subscribe for monthly insights on circular economy innovation, EU policy, and business transformation.