SAP Aims to Eliminate Single-Use Plastics
SAP’s new marketplace to facilitate trade of recycled plastic goods
Plastic waste is one of the biggest environmental threats facing the planet. SAP and a coalition of partners are looking to eliminate single-use packaging such as water bottles and food containers through a new marketplace that facilitates the trade of recovered and recycled plastic goods and materials.
The Lowdown: SAP is building the global plastics marketplace on SAP Ariba, the business-to-business engagement facilitation platform. Through the marketplace, suppliers of recycled plastics and plastic alternatives will have a means for more efficiently and effectively connecting sellers and buyers. The marketplace is an extension of SAP’s Plastic Cloud initiative that was launched last year to combat single-use plastics.
The Details: SAP is announcing the plastics marketplace at London Design Festival in London. SAP says it will work with its technology, plastics, recycling, and manufacturers to develop and use the Ariba-based marketplace to reduce the volume of plastic entering the commercial and consumer markets. Already, more than $10 billion in recycled plastics is transacted on the Ariba platform.
The Impact: The Plastic Cloud and the new marketplace could have a significant impact on reducing plastic packaging. According to the National Geographic Society, 40% of all plastics produced are for product packaging, but only one-fifth of that plastic gets recycled. SAP is working to enlist several product manufacturers into the program, including Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Nestle.
The Buzz: “Even a small portion of global spend on packaging redirected to precertified suppliers of recycled plastics and alternatives can have a tremendous impact, ranging from the livelihood of waste pickers around the world to the environment and quality of the end products,” said Padmini Ranganathan, global vice president of Sustainability and Supplier Risk Solutions at SAP Ariba. “Ariba Network, together with our cloud-based procurement solutions, can help channel recycled plastic to a new recycle market economy. This empowers supply sources to build trusted buyer partnerships while positively impacting the environment and delivering value to brands.”
“At the core of the plastic problem is the economic value of plastic waste,” said Jens Amail, managing director of SAP UK and Ireland. “For long-lasting change to be effective, we need to both innovate into new materials as well as increase the value of our existing plastic waste to divert waste streams away from the natural environment. Being a responsible business is no longer a ‘nice to have’; it’s an imperative. SAP has worked relentlessly in the past 10 years to make our customers and partners run better and greener, and ultimately improve people’s lives.”
“Of ocean plastic, 80% to 90% starts on land. Hence, incentivizing collection from at-risk coastlines around the world will significantly reduce plastic contamination of our oceans,” said Raffi Schieir, director at Bantam Materials, a company that develops sustainable solutions around recycled plastic. “Processing that plastic back into the highest-quality materials at industry-required volumes, along with the certified traceability that [our product line] OceanCycle provides, will drive meaningful impact. This effort also helps our customers achieve their sustainability targets and provides a true benefit to the environment that consumers will appreciate.”
