U.S. Plastics Pact has released its 2023-2024 Impact Report. The consortium has outlined significant improvements in the progress towards a circular economy for plastics. However, there is a clear need for greater collaboration between industries, governments, and consumers.

U.S. Plastics Pact.
U.S. Plastics Pact.
The report goes on to highlight the achievements of the Pact’s 135 Activators while emphasising the importance of unified federal action, public-private partnerships, and personal responsibility in the battle of making plastics more sustainable.
One of the main areas of progress discussed in the report is how the Pact has boosted efforts to transform how plastics are designed, used, and reused. The consortium has found that 22% of Activators are not selling items from the Problematic and Unnecessary Materials List, sustainable packaging adoption is up to 50%, while post-consumer recycled content packaging is up to 11%.
These achievements align with 2025 targets as well as the Pact's new Roadmap 2.0, which extends specific goals to 2030. The Pact states that scalable reuse systems, elimination of virgin plastics, and increased recycling infrastructure should be prioritised.
Innovation leads to change:
- Pact Activators provide solutions across the supply chain.
- Pact Collective is helping to address the hard-to-recycle packaging and plastic waste found in the beauty industry with the new NewMatter resin, a 100% recycled-content material.
- Eastman has opened the world's largest facility of its kind in Tennessee, diverting hard-to-recycle plastics from landfills and minimising emissions.
- Trioworld has unveiled the 49ga Axis Loop film, a slimmer, high-performance machine stretch film containing 30% post-recycled content. The solution helps to reduce the amount of plastic used by up to 40%.
- Kraft Heinz has changed its Crystal Light packaging from plastic to recyclable paperboard, eliminating 3 million pounds of plastic annually.
Federal Guidance requirements
Cohesive national policies are needed to advance circularity. This includes standardised recycling definitions, greater producer responsibility (EPR) programs, and updated recycling data.
“We cannot manage what we do not measure," said Jonathan Quinn, CEO of U.S. Plastics Pact. "Businesses and governments need clear, consistent data and cohesive policies to guide investment and innovation. Federal leadership is essential to achieving a circular economy for plastics.”
Acknowledgement of shared responsibility
As well as regulatory action, the Pact outlines that moving towards a circular economy will also rely on collective responsibility and decisive action. Consumers must make sustainable choices like recycling and opting for reusable packaging systems. Governments and businesses need to work together to drive cost-effective innovations and infrastructure investment. By becoming a sustainability leader, the U.S. will mitigate the risks related to climate change and minimise resource dependency.
Quinn concluded, “Every individual and organisation has a role to play. From the products we choose to the systems we design, we must act with urgency to ensure plastics remain an asset, not a liability. By working together—through personal responsibility, public-private collaboration, and innovation—we can drive change and strengthen America's competitiveness in the global circular economy.”