CHARTER NEXT GENERATION HELPS LAUNCH U.S. PLASTICS PACT ROADMAP TO 2025, DRIVING A NATIONAL STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE CIRCULAR ECONOMY GOALS

Milton, WI  JUNE 16, 2021 – Charter Next Generation (CNG) helped launch The U.S. Plastics Pact’s (“U.S. Pact”) “Roadmap to 2025,” an aggressive national strategy illustrating how the U.S. Pact, Charter Next Generation and fellow signatories, known as Activators, will achieve each of the U.S. Pact’s four 2025 targets through specific actions, responsibilities, and interim timeframes to realize a circular economy for plastics in the United States by 2025.

Launched in August 2020, The U.S. Plastics Pact is a consortium led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact network, which unites a holistic ecosystem of cross-industry stakeholders behind a common vision and national strategy to address plastic waste at its source by 2025.

“Creating a more sustainable, circular economy is all of our responsibility.  CNG understands our company’s responsibility in the value chain and is working diligently to create plastics that are reusable, recyclable or compostable” said Scott Hammer, Director of Sustainability at CNG. “But solving the issues regarding waste in our environment requires cooperation at all levels of the value chain – including infrastructure, regulations, and consumer engagement. That is why we are so honored to be part of the U.S. Plastic Pact and creating the Roadmap to 2025, which defines what needs to be done, collectively, by all of us, to help make an impact on waste”.

As an Activator of the U.S. Pact, CNG joins other stakeholders across the plastics value chain in achieving systemic change and accelerating progress toward the following 2025 targets:

  1. Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025.
  2. 100% of plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.
  3. By 2025, undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
  4. By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30%.

The U.S. Pact’s Roadmap is designed to kick-start action and help U.S. industry leaders and packaging producers develop a national strategy, advance shared goals, and measure the strength of progress through annual reporting. This national strategy will assist Pact Activators in reaching ambitious goals by 2025 that they could not otherwise meet on their own through sharing knowledge, optimizing investments, identifying gaps, overcoming systemic barriers, and implementing policies.

“The current state of U.S. infrastructure, coupled with the lack of incentives to utilize recycled content in plastic packaging, have put immense strain on the value chain,” said Emily Tipaldo, Executive Director, The U.S. Plastics Pact. “The Roadmap is designed to help U.S. industry leaders act on the significant, systemwide change needed to realize a circular economy for plastics by 2025. The timeframe is short, and the workload is immense, but if we choose to do nothing, the visions of a circular economy across the U.S. will give way to the status quo. We look forward to working with all our Activators to drive this critical change.”

The Roadmap holds Charter Next Generation and other Activators of the U.S. Pact accountable to sustainability objectives by creating the pathway in which companies, governments, and NGOs can successfully ensure that plastics remain in the U.S. economy and out of the environment for years to come.

To read the U.S. Pact’s full Roadmap, please visit:  https://usplasticspact.org/Roadmap/

About Charter Next Generation

 Charter Next Generation is North America’s leading independent producer of high-performance, specialty films used in flexible packaging and other end-use markets. Known for sustainable, innovative products and world-class manufacturing capabilities, the company’s quality and expertise are unsurpassed. Its sustainability first mindset, and relentless pursuit of excellence, make it an ideal partner to help brand owners reach their long-term sustainability goals.

CNGinc.com  |  LinkedIn  |  Facebook

About The Recycling Partnership

The Recycling Partnership is the action agent transforming the U.S. residential recycling system for good. Our team operates at every level of the recycling value chain and works on the ground with thousands of communities to transform underperforming recycling programs and tackle circular economy challenges. As the leading organization in the country that engages the full recycling supply chain, from working with companies to make their packaging more circular and help them meet climate and sustainability goals, to working with government to develop policy solutions to address the systemic needs of the U.S. recycling system, The Recycling Partnership positively impacts recycling at every step in the process. Since 2014, the nonprofit change agent diverted 375 million pounds of new recyclables from landfills, saved 968 million gallons of water, avoided more than 420,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, and drove significant reductions in targeted contamination rates. Learn more at recyclingpartnership.org

About World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

WWF is one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, working in nearly 100 countries for over half a century to help people and nature thrive. With the support of more than 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat the climate crisis. Visit www.worldwildlife.org learn more and keep up with the latest sustainability news by following @WWFBetterBiz on Twitter and signing up for our newsletter and news alerts here.

About the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact Network

Since 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative has rallied businesses and governments behind a positive vision of a circular economy for plastic. Its 2016 and 2017 New Plastics Economy reports captured worldwide headlines, revealing the financial and environmental costs of waste plastic and pollution.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Pact Network is a globally aligned response to plastic waste and pollution, which enables vital knowledge sharing and coordinated action. It is a network of national and regional (multi-country) initiatives which brings together key stakeholders to implement solutions towards a circular economy for plastic, tailored to each geography. Each initiative is led by a local organization and unites businesses, government institutions, NGOs and citizens behind a common vision, with an ambitious set of local targets.

Further information: emf.org/plastics-pact | @circulareconomy

Media Contacts: Samantha Kappalman

The Recycling Partnership

Skappalman@recyclingpartnership.org