Talking Trash

The report argues that the plastic industry employs a 'corporate playbook' of delay, distraction, and derailment to protect profits and avoid mandatory regulation. It finds that voluntary commitments from major polluters are often 'paper promises' lacking transparency and accountability, while group initiatives serve as a 'smokescreen' for continued plastic production. The document calls for robust, mandatory legislation, including deposit return systems and virgin-plastic taxes, to address the crisis.

• The plastic industry utilizes a three-part strategy—delay, distract, and derail—to undermine progressive legislation. Delaying involves lobbying to protect the status quo or convincing legislators that mandatory measures are unnecessary; distraction involves shifting blame to consumers ('litterbugs') or promoting 'sticking-plaster solutions' like beach clean-ups; and derailing involves using lobbyists and fake environmental groups to weaken or block laws before they are passed.
• Voluntary commitments from the ten largest plastic polluters are largely ineffective and lack accountability. Many companies consistently miss their own targets or use 'creative accounting' to reframe failures. For example, Coca-Cola set a goal in 1990 to use 25% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) in its bottles, but three decades later, the content remains at 10%.
• Industry-led group initiatives often act as a 'smokescreen' to lend credibility to polluters without requiring meaningful action. The report notes a significant contradiction in investment: while members of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste committed $1.5 billion to the initiative, they invested $186 billion into new petrochemical facilities between 2010 and 2017.
• Multinational corporations exhibit hypocrisy by supporting environmental legislation in some regions while lobbying against it in others. Specifically, Coca-Cola has proclaimed support for certain legislation in the European Union but continues to fight against deposit return systems (DRS) in Kenya, China, and the United States.
• The industry is promoting 'false solutions' such as chemical recycling and bio-based or compostable plastics to avoid mandatory reduction targets. The report describes chemical recycling as a solution with 'severe climate and toxicity consequences' that risks wasting further decades of potential action.
• Virgin-plastic production is a significant driver of climate change, with current growth rates projected to consume 10–15% of the global carbon budget by 2050.

APA

Tangpuori, A. D., Harding-Rolls, G., Urbancic, N., & Zallio, X. P. B. (2020). Talking Trash. Changing Markets Foundation. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TalkingTrash_ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Chicago

Tangpuori, Alice Delemare, George Harding-Rolls, Nusa Urbancic, and Ximena Purita Banegas Zallio. Talking Trash. Changing Markets Foundation, 2020. https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TalkingTrash_ExecutiveSummary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tangpuori |first1=Alice Delemare |last2=Harding-Rolls |first2=George |last3=Urbancic |first3=Nusa |last4=Zallio |first4=Ximena Purita Banegas |title=Talking Trash |publisher=Changing Markets Foundation |date=September 2020 |url=https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TalkingTrash_ExecutiveSummary.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tangpuori2020talking, author = {Tangpuori, Alice Delemare and Harding-Rolls, George and Urbancic, Nusa and Zallio, Ximena Purita Banegas}, title = {{Talking Trash}}, institution = {Changing Markets Foundation}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/TalkingTrash_ExecutiveSummary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }