We need to collaborate to avoid marine plastic litter

On Saturday, 4 May, at a UN conference in Geneva, we shared the experience that Orkla has gained in its effects to reduce plastic waste.

Norway has assumed an international leadership role in combating marine plastic litter. Several new initiatives, including a partnership on plastic waste, were presented at meetings held under the Basel Convention (UN Environmental Programme) in Geneva this weekend.

“Business and industry are key players in the global market and need to be present in the development of a resource efficient plastic economy, in which wastes are minimized, products are designed to last, reused and recycled,” says Christoffer Back Vestli, Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Environment Agency and Norwegian delegate to the Basel Convention.

“Orkla has taken many interesting measures on plastics. Their approach is highly relevant for the new plastic partnership under the Basel Convention,” he adds.

Sharing our experience of working to reduce plastic waste

Orkla was invited to speak about its efforts to combat plastic waste at a luncheon event in connection with the UN conference:

“Plastic is a useful material, but now we really need to make a major effort to prevent plastic from ending up in the environment. If we are to succeed, a concerted effort by business and industry, government authorities and organisations is crucial,” said Ellen Behrens.

She shared the experience that Orkla has gained and talked about the Norwegian road map for a circular plastic economy, which is under development and intended to provide general guidelines for how we need to work to comply with the EU’s recommendations on plastics.

“Each player can make an important contribution, but we also need innovative thinking when it comes to infrastructure and new research on packaging materials and technology for sorting, washing and recovering waste. We need an overall plan for how these changes are to be made, and that is the point of the road map,” Ellen Behrens explained.

The Norwegian government has long worked to establish a global partnership on plastic waste, and this proposal will be considered at the conference. Read more here: https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/basel-convention/id2643569/

“We at Orkla want to engage actively with the rest of the industry and government authorities in finding solutions, and we are already active in a number of areas, both through the Norwegian road map, and in the Circular Plastics Alliance. We will follow the progress of the plans for the new partnership on plastic waste,” says Ellen Behrens.