Towards a theory of ‘Big plastic’

This paper aims to shed light on the nature of the plastic industry’s political power by developing the concept of Big Plastic. To date, the nascent field of ‘plastic political economy’ has shied away from engaging fully with this neologism, typically using it as a throwaway term to note the sector’s influence over governments, or simply rejecting it, noting that the disaggregated nature of the plastics supply chain means that the industry cannot be understood as a monopolised juggernaut similar to Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tech, or other highly consolidated sectors that have been assigned this descriptor. In contrast, we argue that, properly understood, the concept has significant value in helping international political economy (IPE) scholars and environmentalists understand the nature of the industry’s power, and how it might be challenged. Drawing on Fuch’s (2007) ‘three faces of business power’ framework, we sketch a picture of an industry which, despite its heterogeneous supply chain, nevertheless acts to a considerable degree as a coherent political force, leveraging its extensive power at a structural, discursive, and instrumental level to defend the continuity of unmitigated plastic production and consumption.