Representatives from 15 countries gathered in Mexico this week for the inaugural Pact Network Connect 2025, a pivotal three-day event focused on combating the broken food systems and growing plastic pollution that threaten the planet’s future.
Hosted by the global environmental action NGO WRAP, this historic meeting brought together the 13 international Plastics Pacts, in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and the 11 Food Pacts for the first time. The event offered a unique opportunity for the two networks to unite, share knowledge, and strengthen collaborative actions to address the pressing environmental crises of food and plastic waste.
The Pacts represent a collective effort between public and private sector organizations, charities, and NGOs. The event saw Pact Secretariat representatives, investors, and philanthropic organizations co-design actionable solutions for two major environmental challenges. The discussions were centered on creating practical steps to reduce plastic pollution across the 19 countries part of the Plastics Pact Network while sharing insights on how to combat food waste and loss in the 10 countries that make up the first Food Pact Network.
Harriet Lamb, CEO WRAP, “The numerous Pacts are the engine rooms driving forward a new circular economy for plastics and food. They give me hope that we can correct the failures of our food and plastic systems. They show that ahead of securing global inter-governmental agreements at scale, companies, ngos and governments can get behind voluntary action as an agile and effective front runner along the road to transformation. We’re delighted to be in Mexico, bringing together leaders from the food and plastics Pacts for the first ever joint global meeting to share solutions and accelerate change.”
Pact Network Connect 2025 built on the learnings and progress achieved in the first Plastic Pact Network meeting, held in South Africa in 2024 inspiring the move to bring together both Food and Plastics Pacts to amplify impact. The Plastics Pact Network meeting had an added sense of urgency this year, given the lack of agreement on key elements for a global treaty to end plastic pollution at INC5 negotiations in Busan 2024. To achieve this, we need ambitious regulation to complement and accelerate voluntary efforts and create a level playing field for all businesses. The Plastics Pacts are uniquely placed to inform and enable policymaking and treaty implementation through the Network’s large repository of tools, insights, guidance, and standardised definitions.
Marta Longhurst, Pacts and Field-building Lead Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “The Plastics Pacts have proved that such a network can deliver real impact towards eliminating plastic waste and pollution. Thanks to Plastics Pacts, tens of billions of problematic or unnecessary plastic items have been eliminated; design for reusability, recyclability, and composability in practice and at scale has increased by 23%; and incorporation of recycled content back into packaging has increased by 44%. We are pleased to see the tangible impact of the Plastics Pacts, and to see this knowledge shared and applied to other sectors to accelerate the transition to a circular economy worldwide.”
The Plastics Pact Network is a global coordinated response to the hazards plastics pose to people and the planet. Managed through a partnership between WRAP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in just six years the Plastic Pacts have led work tackling pollution and delivering impact on national and global scales. The Network includes over 900 local and global organisations across a 19-country membership. Its members have eliminated more than 360,000 tonnes of problematic and unnecessary plastics and increased recycled content in their packaging by 44% – reducing virgin plastic by 2.2 million tonnes by 2022. All Plastics Pacts align in a common vision to create a circular economy for plastics and eliminate waste and pollution.
Alejandra Kopaitic, Directora Consumo y Producción Sustentable y Pacto Chileno de los Plásticos, “Pact Network Connect is a key event when many countries can share experiences, foster regional collaboration, and strengthen our global partnerships. It will enrich the Chilean Plastics Pact as part of this international network committed to systemic change. We are here to listen, learn, and collaborate, while showcasing the work we are doing in Chile and aligning our goals with international experience and best practices.”
The Food Pact Network connects collaborative action initiatives within individual countries to a global community dedicated to reducing food loss and waste. This is the first time the group has joined forces in person as the Food Pact Network, and through the universal adoption of the principles of Target-Measure-Act the Pacts are changing how food is produced and consumed to support the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 to halve global food waste by 2030.