Progress report for
Guidelines for Reducing Plastic Waste (GRP) and Global Partnership
Achievement at a glance
In 2022, the United Nations Environment Program(UNEP) announced that annually more than 300 million tons of plastics are produced worldwide and plastics are emerging as a major threat to the global environment, especially to the oceans and ecosystems. Plastics are regarded as the main threat to climate change. 99% of all plastic production is based on natural fossil fuels and large amounts of greenhouse gases such as methane are released. While plastic production leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions, extreme weather changes (e.g. floods and typhoons) due to the temperature rise, aggravate marine plastic pollution. Problems derived from the production and disposal of plastics threaten human health and ecosystems and require practical measures.In consideration of this challenge, from the corporative perspective, ASD advises corporations in making an impact through small changes. For instance, in partnership with corporations in the groceries and packed lunch fields, ASD advised initiating a change by replacing or reducing the use of disposable paper cups and plastic forks.
Challenges faced in implementation
The main partners of ASD have continuously been highlighting concern about environmental issues and the importance to tackle them. Yet, the rise in costs accompanied by the substitution of plastic packaging with plastic alternatives has been an obstacle to innovative change. The cost-effectiveness of environmental strategies has been a major challenge for businesses and one of the main explanations for their passive behavior.In consideration of this challenge, from the corporative perspective, ASD advises corporations in making an impact through small changes. For instance, in partnership with corporations in the groceries and packed lunch fields, ASD advised initiating a change by replacing or reducing the use of disposable paper cups and plastic forks.
Next Steps
The Association for Supporting the SDGs for the United Nations(ASD) will continue spreading various recycling efforts through the Guidelines for Reducing Plastic Waste & Sustainable Ocean and Climate Action Acceleration(GRP) project, in which the company, workers, store owners, and consumer collectively participate throughout the value chain process.The Guidelines for Reducing Plastic Waste & Sustainable Ocean and Climate Action Acceleration(GRP) will continue to be published annually. The contents will be updated to cover 30 main backgrounds and 30 global guidelines including comprehensive up-to-date information on global environmental issues such as plastic usage reduction, marine environment protection, and climate change adaptation based on location, scale, socioeconomic environment, corporate opportunity, system, the effectiveness of implementation, innovation, future visions, etc.
Beneficiaries
In the context of the GRP and the diverse campaigns conducted to resolve environmental issues, ASD has built partnerships with enterprises in different sectors.
Actions
ASD consults the public and private sectors with reasonable and necessary measures. Depending on the field and the public and private sectors’ situation, ASD suggests both short- and long-term activities that are vital for environmental protection. Activities are prioritized based on their feasibility and initiated on a case-by-case basis with each corporation.The introduced certification system through the GRP reviews how companies handle waste according to 3 aspects (3R): Reduce, Replace, and Recycle. Each of the 3R Indices is divided into detailed indicators. Thereby, its fundamental objective is to reduce waste generation and create a resource-circulating society by restraining the origin of the waste, using and converting substitutes into products of various materials, and reusing them. Targeted fields include petrochemicals, fashion, retail, food and beverages, cosmetics, and accommodations and restaurants. Each field is composed of customized criteria for a thorough review.
Calculated based on a computation model, corporations are categorized into 4 groups: AAA (highly sustainable corporations, Top 10%), AA+ (sustainable corporations abiding to the Guidelines, Top 20%), AA (corporations close to fully abiding to the Guidelines, Top 30%), and A (corporations which have a high understanding of the Guidelines, top 40%).