To ban or

not to ban
The complex challenge posed by
plastic and its alternatives

June 2019

kpmg.com
2 To ban or not to ban

Bad guy … or irreplaceable component in our daily lives? The

issue of plastic and its harmful environmental impact is right
at the top of the news agenda. And with good reason. The
evidence is incontrovertible that the world’s extensive reliance
on plastics is doing untold damage to our fragile ecosystem.
Yet finding a solution to this challenge is far from
straightforward. Calls to ban plastics outright trigger as many
questions as they answer. The world’s reliance on plastics
can’t be rolled back overnight. And while alternative materials
exist, in some cases they can create as many problems as
they solve.
The demand for immediate action is understandable. But there
isn’t an easy fix or a one-size-fits-all solution. Society’s huge
dependence on plastics means that any alternatives would
need to be introduced at scale. And rigorous analysis needs
to be carried out to ensure that we’re not replacing one type
of environmental harm with another. We look to explore the
challenge posed by plastic and what some of the unexpected
impacts from switching to plastic alternatives could be.
The only approach is to return to basics and tackle the problem
at the source. To materially put an end to plastic-infested
oceans, corporates need to reduce the amount of single-
use plastic they are selling and to reduce the levels of plastic
discarded in the first place.
Governments also have a crucial role to play in improving
waste management systems and boosting the re-use of plastic
through initiatives that incentivise resource efficiency and a
circular economy.

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
 To ban or not to ban 3

Plastics, plastics everywhere

Plastic is literally embedded in our everyday existence. use and transport – and extremely strong and durable.
Production has grown faster over the past 65 years For instance a 60g milk jug can hold 4kg of milk.
than any other manufactured material. Scientists
And it doesn’t just come in the form of bottles,
estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) of virgin
cups, straws, take away containers and so on, but
plastics have already been produced to date.1
is also present in everything from our clothes to the
It’s not hard to understand why the world has become cars we drive, the toys we give our children and the
so plastic-dependent. The material is cheap, easy to transportation of goods that cross borders worldwide.

More harm than good?

And yet the very durability that makes plastic so — A mere 9% of all the plastic produced has
attractive to manufacturers – and consumers – is also been recycled, 12% has been incinerated and
what makes it so harmful. Plastic cannot be consumed 79% is currently in landfills or discarded in the
by most bacteria, so it never fully degrades. natural environment.2
Instead, it has to be broken down by wind, sun or — The UK throws away two double-decker busloads of
ocean waves, with the pieces constantly reducing into plastic waste every 30 seconds.3
tiny microplastics until they become invisible – and yet
— If current production and waste management trends
still enormous compared to most natural molecules. So
continue at the same rate, roughly 12,000 Mt of
don’t think of plastic breaking down, it merely breaks
plastic waste are likely to be in landfills or the natural
up into microplastics. Not only that, as microplastics
environment by 2050 – equal to the weight of one
are hydrophobic (insoluble), and have a high surface
billion elephants.
area-to-volume ratio, they can absorb environmental
contaminants (polychlorinated biphenyl; PCB) making How are these huge volumes of plastic entering the
them even more toxic to animals. environment? Two ways: ‘intentionally’ through, say,
litter on the street and beach; and ‘unintentionally’, via
The visible and – worse – invisible damage plastics are
accidental industrial waste leakage or landfill sites. In
wreaking on the environment is well documented:
other words, whether we’re consumers, corporates or
— Some 18 billion pounds of plastic flows waste management companies, we’re all part of the
into the ocean every year, according to the problem and the solution.
National Geographic.
— As plastic can’t fully degrade, it means every single
piece of plastic ever made is still around in the
ecosystem in some form.

18 billion
pounds of plastic
18 bn

Only 9%
of all the plastic
79%
is currently
flows into the produced has in landfills or
ocean every year, been recycled discarded in
according to the the natural
National Geographic environment

Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made, Roland Geyer1,*, Jenna R. Jambeck2
1 2
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782
and Kara Lavender Law3Science Advances 19 Jul 2017: Vol. 3, no. 7, e1700782, DOI: 3
https://learn.tearfund.org/~/media/files/tilz/circular_economy/2019-tearfund-consortium-
10.1126/sciadv.1700782 no-time-to-waste-en.pdf?la=en

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
4 To ban or not to ban

The problem of plastic production

Global plastic production and its fate How does plastic affect human beings?
There has been a cumulative total of 8,300 million tons of Currently there is no clear evidence whether microplastics
plastics (Polymer Resins, Fibres and additives) produced have a similar effect on humans, as the level of
globally over the period 1950-2015. The figure below microplastics ingested is not at sufficient concentrations
shows the journey from production to its ultimate fate. to cause the same issues as it does in marine animals.
(One reason is for this is because microplastics remain
Balance of plastic production and fate (m = million tonnes) in the guts of fish and do not move into muscle tissue,
8300m 4900m discarded + 800m incinerated + which is what we eat). However, this precautionary
produced 2600m still in use (100m of recycled plastic) principle is not evidence against taking exposure seriously
– we must take it seriously. Current knowledge is mostly
Straight to landfill
Total primary plastic Plastic used once or discarded based on research conducted within the last decade;
production 5800m 4600m however, interest in studying microplastics and its effect
8300m on humans is growing and new analytical methods are
being developed to assess the full extent of its impact.6

How does plastic affect climate change?

It’s not only animal consumption of plastic and ocean
well-being that is causing grave concern. Plastic is also
Incinerated 700m increasingly contributing to climate change. A 2019
Recycled 500m Recycled report by the TearFund states that global plastic
then
Recycled then discarded production emits 400Mt of greenhouse gases each
incinerated 300m year – more than the UK’s entire carbon footprint.7 If
Primary plastic 100m
still in use the growth of plastic production continues at its current
2500m
rate, by 2050 the plastic industry could account for
Recycled 20% of the world’s total oil consumption.
still in use
100m Moreover, a study from the University of Hawaii found
Source: based on Geyer et al. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics that plastic is known to release a variety of harmful
ever made. This is a visualisation from OurWorldinData.org, where you find
chemicals as it breaks up, with a negative impact on biota.
data and research on how the worl is changing.
Licensed under CC BY SA by Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2018).4
When exposed to solar radiation, the most commonly
used plastics produce two greenhouse gases, methane
and ethylene. Methane alone is roughly 30 times more
How does plastic affect animals?
potent a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide.8
Around 700 species of marine animals have been On top of that, there’s also the fact that plastic waste from
affected by the plastic infesting the world’s ocean. When developed countries such as the UK has been shipped
organisms ingest microplastics, it can take up space in off to developing countries to be ‘recycled’, because the
the gut and digestive system, leading to reductions in current UK waste infrastructure simply cannot cope. As
feeding signals, which in turn results in energy depletion, developing countries can’t manage it either, this plastic
inhibited growth and fertility impacts. Additionally, if there waste is being burned or dumped, rather than managed
is significant accumulation of toxic chemicals building safely, potentially causing up to a million people a year
through the food chain, it means trophic level dynamics to die from conditions such as cancer, heart disease and
can change. This then has the potential to destabilise diarrhea. Very recently there has been a direct response
the ocean and eventually our ecosystem. For instance from these developing countries rejecting any further
a report has found that when plastic nanoparticles are waste meaning developing counties such as the UK will
transferred up through a food chain, they enter the brain need to manage it themselves.
of the top consumer and affect its behaviour, thereby
severely disrupting the function of natural ecosystems.5
If this is happening in the marine environment what is to
say it isn’t happening in other ecosystems that consume
marine animals?

4
https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2018/08/plastic-fate.png 7
https://learn.tearfund.org/~/media/files/tilz/circular_economy/2019-tearfund-consortium-
5
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-10813-0 no-time-to-waste-en.pdf?la=en
6
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6132564/
8
Royer S-J, Ferrón S, Wilson ST, Karl DM (2018) Production of methane and ethylene
from plastic in the environment. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0200574. https://doi.org/10.1371/
journal.pone.0200574

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
 To ban or not to ban 5

Which sectors use plastic the most?

The graph below shows which industries produce the largest amounts of plastic waste. Packaging, for example,
has a very short ‘in-use’ lifetime (typically around 6 months or less). This is in contrast to building and construction
sectors, where plastic use has a mean lifetime of 35 years. The packaging sector is therefore the dominant
generator of plastic waste, responsible for almost half of the global total.9

Plastic waste generation by industrial sector, 2015

Global plastic waste generation by industrial sector, measured in tonnes per year.

Additives 17 million tonnes

Building and Construction 13 million tonnes

Consumer & Institutional Products 37 million tonnes

Electrical/Electronic 13 million tonnes

Industrial Machinery 1 million tonnes

Other polymer type 11 million tonnes

Other sector 42 million tonnes

Packaging 141 million tonnes

Textiles 38 million tonnes

Transportation 17 million tonnes

0 tonnes 60 million tonnes 120 million tonnes

Source: Geyer et al. (2017).10

Where does all this plastic waste go?

Plastic is disposed of in three ways: 2. Destroying it thermally through incineration,
which in some cases also allows some energy to
1. Recycling or reprocessing into a secondary
be recovered, however a large level of energy is
material11, involving the circular economy process,
needed to power the incineration in the first place.
which delays the consequences of further virgin
Emerging technologies, such as pyrolysis, are now
plastic production. It does, however, inevitably
extracting fuel from plastic waste.
involve the contamination and mixing of polymer
types, producing secondary plastics of limited or 3. Discarding it, either by containing it in a managed
low technical and economic value. system, such as sanitary landfills, or leaving it
uncontained in the natural environment or dumps.12

9
https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution 12
Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made, Roland Geyer1,*, Jenna R. Jambeck2
10
https://www.european-bioplastics.org/market/market-drivers/ and Kara Lavender Law3Science Advances 19 Jul 2017: Vol. 3, no. 7, e1700782, DOI:
11
N. H. Mutha, M. Patel, V. Premnath, Plastics material flow analysis for India. Resour. 10.1126/sciadv.1700782
Conserv. Recycl. 47, 222–244 (2006).

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
6 To ban or not to ban

Recycling is clearly an attractive solution in many respects – and yet its’ potential is frustratingly under-exploited.
There is currently a shortage of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate – plastic that can be iteratively recycled) simply
because the material is not being collected and repurposed in sufficient quantities. As a result, we are seeing far
fewer products made out of a high percentage (>30%) of PET than there is the opportunity for.
The graph below provides a snapshot into the recycling rates in the US from 1991 – 2009, showing how much PET
is wasted vs being collected as production grew over the years.

PET Sales, Recycling, and Wasting (in Thousands of Tons)

PET bottle sales and wasting in the U.S., 1991-2009

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009
Sold Wasted Recycled
Source: Container recycling institute.

Weighing up the alternatives

There are many different alternatives to plastic in the the amount of carbon sucked up by the plants from the
market – from the quirky and diverse to the small and soil rather than releasing carbon trapped underground
simple. Below we are going to look at a few of the in the form of oil.
most common alternatives but it is by no means a
Nevertheless, there is a downside. A 2011 study from
conclusive list.
Pittsburgh established that there are environmental issues
Bioplastics associated with growing plants for bioplastic. That includes
the pollution created from fertilisers and cases where
Bioplastic is a material made from plants and biological
land usage is diverted from essential food production.14
material rather than petroleum. It is produced either
There is also the ethical question of whether we should be
by extracting sugar from plants such as corn and
using food such as corn to create plastic, given the food
sugarcane and converting it into polylactic acids (PLAs),
shortages faced by much of the world’s population.
or from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) engineered
from microorganisms. PHA is used for medical devices Issues with disposal
such as cardiovascular patches, while PLA plastic is Then there’s the issue of disposal. Is it better to deliver
commonly used in food packaging. PLA is often the it to a landfill, recycle it or send it to the industrial
cheapest source of bioplastic as it originates from the composite site? If the latter, the material needs to
same large industrial facilities that make products such be heated at high enough temperatures to allow
as ethanol. As such, it is the most common type, also the microbes to break it down. Without that intense
used in plastic bottles, utensils, and textiles.13 heat, the bioplastics won’t degrade in a meaningful
Bioplastics contribute less carbon to the atmosphere timeframe. If they end up in marine environments,
than petroleum-based plastic because they return only they will have exactly the same harmful effects as
petroleum-based plastic.
13
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/are-bioplastics-made-from- Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Department of Chemical Engineering,
plants-better-for-environment-ocean-plastic/ Department of Chemistry, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
14
Sustainability Metrics: Life Cycle Assessment and Green Design in polymers , Michael University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261 Received May 13, 2010.
Angelo D. Tabone, James J. Cregg, †, §eric jJ. Beckman, and Amy E. Landis* , † Revised manuscript.

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
 To ban or not to ban 7

Non-plastic-based alternatives
Paper
Paper is the most common alternative to single use need to be used at least four times. However, most
plastic items, as seen in straws, cups and bags. This paper bags would not be durable enough to be used
is because usually it can perform the same function four times to test that theory.19 Moreover, in terms of
as its plastic sibling without the harmful microplastics, recycling, it takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound
chemical leaching and fumes released during burning, of plastic than it does to recycle a pound of paper.20
which plastic waste creates. Does this mean paper
could be out answer to solving the plastic problem?
No – not entirely as there are environmental trade-offs
to take into account.15
Research done by the Northern Ireland Assembly
shows that it takes more than four times as much
energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does a plastic
bag. And during the production of a paper bag, trees
– which would otherwise absorb greenhouse gases
– need to be cut down to fuel this demand.
What’s more, most paper bags are made by heating
chips of wood under high temperature and pressure
within a chemical solution, inevitably resulting in the
emission of greenhouse gasses. The toxic chemicals
involved also contribute to water pollution – and
cause a long-term problem as they work its way
through the food chain.16
Even more toxicity is created when paper bags
degrade. Strikingly, paper bags generate 70% more air
and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
Then there’s the issue of the space they consume:
around seven lorries would be needed to transport
exactly the same number of paper bags as could be
delivered by a single lorry carrying plastic bags.17
Then there’s the fact that paper bags are almost never
reusable and also tend to be very fragile. Plastic bags,
on the other hand, can be very lightweight and yet
still strong enough to carry a full load of shopping.
A plastic bag can carry 2,500 times its own weight
and stay strong when wet and also put to many other
uses in the home.
Reusable plastic bags (‘bags for life’) go even further,
more sustainable than all types of lightweight plastic
carrier bags if they are used at least four times. For
that reason, some argue that they offer the best
environmental benefits of all over the full life cycle.18
The Welsh Assembly Government studied the
environmental impacts of different types of carrier
bags. It concluded that, for a paper bag to have match
the environmental impacts of plastic bags, it would

15
Research leverages lifecycle assessment conducted between 2005 – 2011 by national 18
Environment Group Research Report (2005) ‘Proposed Plastic Bag Levy – Extended
government in the UK which are still very much valid and is widely cited in publications Impact Assessment’ http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/57346/0016899.pdf
and literature reviews. 19
Welsh Assembly Government http://wales.gov.uk/topics/environmentcountryside/
16
http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/raise/publications/2011/ epq/waste_recycling/substance/carrierbags/chargeqanda/types/?lang=en [accessed
environment/3611.pdf 23/02/11)
17
https://enviroliteracy.org/environment-society/life-cycle-analysis/paper-or-plastic/ 20
http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more/myth-busting/why-paper-is-no-better-than-plastic

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
8 To ban or not to ban

Doing the sums on the drawbacks

and the benefits
A similar story emerges from the full environmental impact assessment report issued by the Scottish Government
in 2005 on the effects of a proposed plastic bag fee.21 The report calculated the cost-benefits and offers a telling
comparison between plastic and paper bags, as outlined in the table below. The lightweight plastic bag was given
a score of 1 in all categories as a reference point. A score higher than 1 indicates that a paper bag contributes more
damage to the environment than a lightweight plastic bag when balanced against the actual volume of shopping
carried. The indicators take into account emissions which occur over the whole lifecycle.

Indicator of environmental impact Lightweight plastic bag (Single use) Paper bag (Single use)
Consumption of non-renewable 1.0 1.1
primary energy
Consumption of water 1.0 4.0
Climate change (emission of 1.0 3.3
greenhouse gases)
Acid rain (atmospheric acidification) 1.0 1.9
Air quality (ground level ozone 1.0 1.3
formation)
Eutrophication of water bodies 1.0 14.0
Solid waste production 1.0 2.7
Risk of litter* 1.0 0.2

*Risk of litter is categorised as the likelihood for the item to be discarded irresponsibly into the environment,
which would lead to environmental contamination in the form of toxin accumulation, greenhouse gases,
animal ingestion etc.

21
Environment Group Research Report (2005) ‘Proposed Plastic Bag Levy – Extended
Impact Assessment’ http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/57346/0016899.pdf

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
 To ban or not to ban 9

A mixed picture for

glass and aluminium
Many have also long turned to aluminium and glass
as simple alternatives to PET. Once again, however,
the full environmental picture needs to be assessed
in the round.
Glass bottle production, for example, use more
energy when compared to aluminium and virgin PET
and produces the most solid waste and the highest
volume of greenhouse gasses.22
Even though an aluminium can is the lightest product,
the level of energy used in the smelting and sheet
production process offsets the weight advantage.
As a result, the PET bottle system has the lowest
total energy input the manufacturing process.
If we then consider fossil fuel consumption, an
aluminium can will have the lowest fossil fuel profile.
Case studies have shown that 78% of production
energy can come from fossil fuels, the remaining
22% from the hydropower used in aluminium
smelter factories for instance.
PET, on the other hand, uses the most fossil fuels in
its production, as its raw materials are oil and natural
gas. At the same time, however, it is the lightest
material and therefore has the lowest travel costs
and carbon emissions. Glass, meanwhile, is the
heaviest meaning it has the most travel costs and
carbon emissions. When finally discarded, glass has a
higher volume density than aluminium and PET (both
of which can be crushed) and disposal, therefore,
requires more transportation loads leading to more fuel
consumption and carbon emissions etc.
Yet glass also has the benefit of zero leaching issues,
meaning that it can be used year after year with
no negative impact on our health. That contrasts
favourably with plastic, where long term use will
inevitably lead to plastic leaching into the substance
it is carrying.

22
http://docplayer.net/26801106-Life-cycle-inventory-of-three-single-serving-soft-drink-
containers-revised-peer-reviewed-final-report-prepared-for-pet-resin-association.html

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with
KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
10 To ban or not to ban

Where next for plastics?

It’s fair to say that there is no easy answer to the challenge plastics
represent. Everything is a trade-off. Some of the alternatives may offer
genuine improvements in some areas, but some give with one hand and
take away with the other. A solution might, say, reduce the environmental
impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, and yet involve the risk of
serious pollution issues further down the line.
The only approach is to return to basics and tackle the problem at the
source. To materially put an end to plastic-infested oceans, corporates
need to reduce the amount of single-use plastic they are selling and on the
levels of plastic discarded in the first place.
Governments also have a crucial role to play in improving waste
management systems and boosting the re-use of plastic through initiatives
that incentivise resource efficiency and a circular economy.
It’s essential that we ‘close the loop’ on plastic, to prevent it escaping
into our environment causing additional greenhouse gas emissions and
potential impact on human health.
— There needs to be a reduction in single use plastic across all sectors, a
source of high levels of unnecessary plastic consumption and pollution.
Encouragingly, the UK government has recently announced that a
scoped single use plastic ban will come into force in April 2020.
— The recycling infrastructure in the UK needs to improve dramatically to
handle the country’s recycling needs. Investment must be directed into
new technologies that can recycle all types of plastics. Some plastic
recyclers have created technology capable of recycling any grade of
plastic showing that there are innovations out there that work.
— Further government intervention and leadership is required; for instance,
to reduce the level of incineration – which would otherwise increase
due to the UK’s lack of sufficient waste recycling capability. While the
output energy from incineration can be harnessed to power industries,
it is still very damaging to the environment due to the large amounts of
fuel involved in the first place.
— Implementing a circular economy is an effective way to achieve
environmental goals linked to plastic pollution. It is a system where
everyone and everything wins – from consumers and producers to
businesses and the environment.
— Further research is needed to understand the effects of plastic
toxins on humans, the potential damage done by microplastics in the
environment, and into developing new alternatives to plastic and their
effects on the world.
— Public education is needed to ensure consumers are fully aware of the
impacts of plastic, as well as the already widely-understood impact on
marine animals, and to improve recycling behaviour.

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of
independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a
Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
 To ban or not to ban 11

Good news on the

ground
Keenly aware of the huge volumes of plastic waste being created, and
the environmental damage caused, many companies – and consumers
– across the UK are now taking matters into their own hands.
The sale of plastic items is being banned in workplaces, in an effort to cut
plastic waste, and replaced by aluminium and natural alternatives. Large
public events such as the Glastonbury festival are also putting a stop to the
sale of plastic bottles, while the London marathon events have set up a
dedicated team to develop new environmental initiatives and practices for
sustainable mass participation sports events.
Likewise, the retail industry is doubling down on its efforts to eliminate
plastic packaging and ensure that what can’t be completely removed
is recyclable, whether that’s product packaging or products on their
supermarket shopping aisles.
At KPMG, we have introduced a number of our own initiatives:
— Plastic free coffee shops at our London HQ. We also have a reusable
cup incentive where employees receive reductions on the price of their
hot drink.
— Reusable metal water bottles supplied free to our 15,000
employees. Instead of spending £60,000 a year on plastic cups, the
new scheme will have paid for itself within 18 months. As a result,
we have removed three million plastic water cups across our UK
offices, and the same number from our hot drink vending machines.
— Removed the use of plastic straws from our offices and saved over
750,000 items of plastic cutlery this year by removing them from the
entire firm.
— Recycling plastic coffee cups across five of our regional offices,
via one of the UK’s only coffee cup collection services. The cups are
taken to a processing facility to be made into new products, including
reusable cups.
— Carpet recycling. Carpet fibres in our offices are recycled to be reused
for other carpets and the backing materials help to create energy from
the waste.

© 2019 KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of
independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a
Swiss entity. All rights reserved.
Solving an urgent and
complex dilemma
Global plastic pollution and the damage it causes to our world is one of the most urgent and
complex challenges we face today. Yet, as we’ve seen, there are no off-the-shelf solutions;
all the responses that exist inevitably offer a degree of trade-off and compromise, meaning
consumers and corporates alike must be very clear on what alternative environmental
impacts are created when switching away from plastic and managing them accordingly.
An evidence-based approach is therefore essential – and a clear-eyed understanding of
where the greatest benefits lie. Expect also to see technology – the great enabler across so
many sectors in so many ways – play its part in the future in helping the world navigate a
way around this most intractable of dilemmas.

How we can help

KPMG’s team of sustainability experts draw on the insights and experience of a global
multidisciplinary practice.
We have particular expertise in advising clients in:
— Strategy creation and development — Regulation assessments
— Circular Economy Model implementation — Risk Integration
— Impact assessments and supply — ESG Due Diligence
chain modelling
— Non-Financial Assurance and
— Consumer Behaviour Change models Reporting services
and impact
— Collaboration and Convening initiatives
across markets

If you would like to find out more please contact;

Jeremy Kay Troy Mortimer Joshua Hasdell

Global Strategy Lead for Energy and Head of Sustainability and Responsible Strategy and Sustainability,
Natural Resources, KPMG International Investment, KPMG UK KPMG in the UK
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

kpmg.com/uk

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and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on
such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.
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CREATE. | CRT114793 | June 2019