Only 6 percent of plastics ever made have been recycled, and two-thirds of plastics have

been discarded. Plastic can take more than 400 years to degrade, meaning there is an
enormous amount that continues to accumulate and negatively impact the environment. As
Roland Geyer, a professor from the University of California stated, “you can’t manage what
you don’t measure” (National Geographic, 2018)

3. What is Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s model of pre-competitive collaboration?

Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s (EMF) model of pre-competitive collaboration was initiated as
an implementation method for EMF’s circular plastic economy proposal. The circular plastic
economy proposes a circular economy that is financially, environmentally, and socially
sustainable. Waste that is generated from the system is meant to be returned to
production through recycling the materials. To create such an economy, problematic and
unnecessary plastics should be eliminated, innovation should be used to ensure plastics
used are reusable and recyclable, and lastly plastics should be circulated in the economy
and out of the environment (Ellen Macarthur Foundation , 2022).

Pre-competitive collaboration involves key stakeholders within the same industry coming
together to work towards resolving a common pain point that does not impact any business
competition but rather enables and improves the sustainability of the business. In the case
of EMF, five building blocks were rolled out to promote this: dialogue mechanisms, global
commitment, the plastics pact, innovation, and stakeholder engagements. Defruyt from
EMF used innovation to bring together stakeholders from the plastics industry to
collaborate, create, and test new innovative solutions that could change the way plastic
packaging is designed, used, and reused.