1. Greatly improve the economic efficiency, quality and popularity of the cycle
    After a brief period of use, about 95% of the value of plastic packaging materials ($8-120 billion per year) loses its economic value. Capturing even a fraction of that could mean huge business opportunities. If well coordinated across global value chains, there are five areas that can work together to drive significant improvements in economics, recovery rates, and recycling quality. This includes: establishing cross-value chain dialogue mechanisms; Develop a global plastics agreement to set the direction for the redesign and integration of materials, styles and post-use systems; Focus on key innovation opportunities that can be scaled up; Promoting secondary markets for recycled materials; Discuss the promoting effect of policy.

         1.1 Take action across the value chain to seize opportunities
     In the more than 40 years since the introduction of the universal Recycling mark, only 14% of plastic packaging has been recycled, despite the fact that almost all plastic used for packaging is mechanically recyclable with little quality loss. Since most of these materials cannot be recycled (economically), they are mainly used in low-value applications. Current recycling technologies can be summarized into three main types: mechanical closed-loop recycling, mechanical open-loop recycling, and chemical recycling. Today, the vast majority of plastic packaging recycling is mechanically open-loop recycling, which means sorting, shredding and reprocessing the material into low-value, often non-packaging applications. For example, about 80 percent of recycled PET bottles are used in polyester fibers for carpets, clothing, and other non-packaging purposes. Other major applications for open-loop plastic recycling are low-value markets, such as plastic pipes, garbage collection bags, etc. These applications are usually not (economically) recyclable after use, so current open-   loop recycling usually only adds an additional cycle of use, rather than achieving a true cycle.

      The global recovery rate of 14% is the average and varies greatly by product form and material type. Today, certain material/specification combinations (mainly PET bottles, HDPE bottles and commercial packaging films) have achieved relatively high recycling rates. More than half of all PET bottles are recycled worldwide, reaching 80-90% in some markets. Most other packaging types fail to be recycled on a large scale. The main reason is that the form and material design can provide high purity recycled materials in large quantities at competitive prices, which is the main driving force of the circular economy. In the case of beverage bottles, recycling can provide a large and affordable supply of pure bottle-to-bottle ingredients, as they can be easily identified by citizens and also through manual or automated sorting facilities. Moreover, they are usually not heavily contaminated with hard-to-remove food residues, and the chemical composition varies little from bottle to bottle.
     Another example is a single material film after use, which can usually be collected as a clean single material. Other packages often have very diverse chemical compositions and styles, and the amount of each package is limited. Although multi-material packaging has obvious functional advantages, it brings great challenges for recycling.
    The average recycling rate of 14% also varies by region, indicating the importance of infrastructure and policies for post-use material handling. In 2014, the recycling rate of plastic packaging in Germany and the Czech Republic reached 50%, more than three times higher than the global average and 25% higher than the EU average of 40%. While this does not indicate that 50 per cent is actually recovered, and measures vary from country to country, the 50 per cent recovery rate does indicate the impact of the choice of basic treatment facilities and policies on recovery rates.
   Concerted action is needed across the entire global value chain, from design to recycling markets, to improve the economics, accessibility and quality of recycling.
         1.2 Establish a cross-value chain dialogue mechanism
    Cross-value chain dialogue mechanisms, including participants in global value chains, need to overcome existing fragmentation.
    Today, innovation in the plastics value chain is largely uncoordinated and fragmented. Global supply and distribution chains develop and introduce new packaging much faster than, and largely disconnected from, the development of post-processing systems and infrastructure. At the same time, hundreds (if not thousands) of small local initiatives are launched each year, focusing on areas such as improving collection schemes and installing new sorting and reprocessing technologies. Therefore, a first step towards better coordinated action and a prerequisite for systemic change is the establishment of a global cross-value chain dialogue.
         1.3 Develop a global plastics agreement to guide the redesign and convergence of materials, products and uses
    Today's plastics economy lacks coherence across the value chain, leading to a proliferation of materials, products, labelling, collection schemes, and sorting and reprocessing systems, thus hindering the development of an efficient recycling market.
     Despite many innovations and improvements, which have so far been too fragmented and uncoordinated, Jufa has had an impact at scale. A global plastics agreement needs a core set of standards to underpin innovation. The protocol can provide guidelines for design, labelling, marking, infrastructure for using post-processing and secondary markets, allowing for regional differences and innovation to overcome existing fragmentation and fundamentally change the economics and market effectiveness of post-use collection, reprocessing.
       1.3.1 Develop and promote the adoption of global plastic packaging design guidelines
     Design is very important to improve the economic benefit after use, and the design choice directly affects the complexity and economy of the process after use.
    Classification: Packaging consisting of different elements, such as labels, LIDS, glues, or layers of different materials, may cause separation difficulties. Certain polymer types may also be difficult to separate, such as PVC in minced PET or oxygen-degradable materials in non-degradable materials. Some products are more challenging to handle, such as small-size packages and diaphragms. Some packaging items are difficult to identify, such as full-body bottle labels.
    Cleaning: Cleaning challenges not only come from pollution, but can also be related to design choices. Some types of glue and inks may be difficult or impossible to remove from plastic by conventional cleaning techniques and may require investment in more sophisticated cleaning techniques. Packaging should also be designed so that there is no or little product residue after use.
    Scale: If only a small amount of a particular product or material is available, it may be economically challenging to recycle, and it may not be economical to invest in related sorting and/or reprocessing technologies.