BrazilMcKinsey and Amcor team up to promote recycling in Buenos Aires
Mckinsey’s Rethinking Recycling initiative has received a new boost, with global packaging giant Amcor hopping on board to support the goal of building formal recycling systems globally – currently being piloted in Buenos Aires.
Run by McKinsey & Company’s non-profit arm McKinsey.org, Rethinking Recycling hopes to drive a collaborative global effort for better waste management in the long run – “so waste can be recycled and repurposed in more sustainable, economically viable ways” according to the firm.
For now, innovative solutions are being piloted in Bali, Indonesia and Buenos Aires, Argentina – to be scaled up regionally and globally at a later stage. In Buenos Aires, for instance, McKinsey.org has crafted a recycling network across 5,000 households and over 120 trained workers. The system recycles one-third of its waste, in a city that previously had no set up for recycling.
With Amcor now on board, this model can be scaled up for broader sustainable planning purposes, in Buenos Aires and around the world. The Zurich-headquartered global outfit produces flexible and rigid packaging for food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products among others.
With revenues of over $9 billion, Amcor’s network spans over 35,000 employees worldwide, and its clientele includes some of the world’s leading consumer goods company. As part of the agreement with McKinsey, Amcor will leverage this extensive network to garner support for Rethinking Recycling.
This is in addition to running workshops with various players in its expansive supply chain to foster a culture of recycling. Once the pilots in Bali and Buenos Aires are complete, Amcor will help McKinsey chart out the next destination for testing innovative and scalable models.
“Amcor has believed in and supported our vision for a world free of waste from the very beginning of the Rethinking Recycling program,” noted Larissa Sakamoto, programme manager at McKinsey.org.
“With a shared commitment to creating sustainable waste ecosystems, Amcor’s investment is an important step in empowering every community to build green, economically-sustainable recycling systems.”
Indeed, Amcor has its own recycling agenda – a 2025 sustainability pledge aimed at bringing its network together to develop more sustainable, reusable and recyclable packaging, as well as to use more recycled material in their own manufacturing. McKinsey’s Rethinking Recycling ties nicely into this objective.
“Developing recycling infrastructure is critical in building a circular system that works and McKinsey.org’s initiative will complement our existing efforts to collaborate to keep waste out of the environment,” said David Clark, Amcor vice president for sustainability.
