Plastic

According to the OECD’s Global Plastics Outlook, plastic waste is projected to almost triple by 2060, with half of all plastic waste still being landfilled and less than a fifth recycled. ING is active in financing clients throughout the plastics value chain, from upstream production to midstream users of plastic and downstream collection, sorting and recycling.

While the use of plastics has clear benefits and certain plastics may be recyclable, plastic pollution will continue if the plastic produced doesn’t actually get recycled. That’s why we strive to support clients active in plastic waste management and plastic recycling through sustainable financing solutions. ING also aims to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic packaging within our own operations, and is calling for government action to address plastic pollution.

Supporting our clients

ING established a Sustainable Value Chains (SVC) team in 2023 to investigate new business opportunities arising from working across existing and new value chains within key sectors. One of SVC’s focus areas is recycling and bio-based materials, which are key to support the transition to a more circular product lifecycle. In addition, one of the three focus areas of ING's Hydrocarbons & New Energies team is the financing of recycled feedstock solutions for plastic production through chemical recycling processes.

To improve management of ESG risks, including plastic pollution, ING has also created a data driven ESG risk assessment framework for our Wholesale Banking clients and transactions. This assessment integrates ESG risk factors into our transaction processes. When elevated ESG risks in a client and/or transaction are identified, the case is escalated to ING’s Environmental & Social Risk team for enhanced screening and ensuring appropriate mitigation measures are in place. For clients that are either producers or users of plastic packaging, we assess the commitments and targets they have in place to reduce plastic pollution, among other measures. Some examples of the commitments we expect from these clients include reduction of virgin plastic use, increased recycled content, and the elimination of unnecessary plastic packaging.

We believe that all parties in the chain of supply and demand should take responsibility to rethink the way we currently produce and use plastics. The economy is in a transition, and so are our clients. We finance a lot of sustainable activities, but still finance more that’s not.

Our own operations

We aim to improve practices within our own operations, such as creating awareness about plastic waste among employees and working with suppliers to meet plastics policies, such as the EU single-use plastics directive. All ING offices in the Netherlands have now replaced disposable cups with reusable cups at coffee and tea machines. With this switch, we save about 11 tons of waste and over 2.5 million disposable cups every year. At many of our offices, we have a segregated waste management stream for plastics, and we strive to minimize single-use plastic disposables.

Calling for government action

Addressing the growing problem of plastic waste pollution requires a global approach. The UN Treaty to End Plastic Pollution aims to deliver an international legally binding instrument to do just that. As part of the UNEP FI convened Finance Leadership Group on Plastics, ING contributes to Treaty negotiations via technical briefings and joint calls to action like the Finance Statement on Plastic Pollution, which calls on governments to negotiate an ambitious Treaty to end plastic pollution. The Finance Statement asks for the Treaty to be supported by binding rules and obligations for governments to address the full life cycle of plastic, based on a scientific approach, and for it to create a framework to align all economic participants with its objectives.