A report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) assessing global plastic packaging flows assesses the cost to society of the material's reliance on petroleum-based feedstocks and the failure to recycle plastic effectively after use.

Most plastic packaging is used once, resulting in 95 percent of the value of plastic packaging material—worth $80 billion-$120 billion annually—lost to the economy, according to the report, "The New Plastics Economy."

(Read “Cleanup Systems Aim to Stem the Tide of Ocean Plastic Pollution.”)

"Growing volumes of end-of-use plastics are generating costs and destroying value to the industry," says Martin Stuchtey, director of the Center for Business and Environment at McKinsey & Co., which contributed to the report. Plastics production has grown over the past 50 years, the report notes, from 15 million metric tons in 1964 to 311 million tons in 2014. It is expected to double again over the next 20 years, as plastics serve increasing numbers of applications.

While plastics and plastic packaging are integral to the global economy, they generate negative externalities, "conservatively valued by UNEP" (the United Nations Environment Programme) at $40 billion and expected to increase with strong volume growth in a business-as-usual scenario, according to WEF. Each year, the report says, at least 8 million tons of plastics—most of it plastic packaging—finds its way into the ocean. That volume is expected to double by 2030 and quadruple by 2050 if no action is taken.

By 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean. Image credit: Pixabay. "The best research currently available estimates that there are over 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean today," the report says. "In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain 1 ton of plastic for every 3 tons of fish by 2025 and, by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight)."

According to the report's authors, achieving the systemic change needed to shift the global plastic value chain will require major collaborative efforts among all stakeholders across that value chain—consumer goods companies; plastic packaging producers and plastics manufacturers; businesses involved in collection, sorting and reprocessing; cities; policymakers; and NGOs. WEF proposes the creation of an independent coordinating vehicle to set direction, establish common standards and systems, overcome fragmentation and foster innovation opportunities at scale.

"After-use plastics could—with circular economy thinking—be turned into valuable feedstock," Stuchtey contendsWhile recycling and reuse are critical aspects of decoupling plastic packaging use from the consumption of fossil-based feedstock, by themselves they are probably insufficient to reduce such reliance, the report notes. "Even if global recycling rates rose from today’s 14 percent to more than 55 percent—which would be higher than the rate achieved today by even the best-performing countries—annual requirements for virgin feedstock would still double by 2050."