Packaging solutions provider Amerplast (Tampere / Finland; www.amerplast.com) and Fortum Recycling & Waste Solutions (Riihimäki / Finland; http://wastesolutions.fortum.com/en/contact-us/fortum-waste-solutions-oy) have presented a Finnish large scale circular economy initiative – the "ESSI carrier bag" – at the "World Circular Economy Forum" in Helsinki on 5-7June 2017. First launched as a shopping bag in Finland in January 2017, the ESSI carrier bag is made from recycled plastic waste collected largely from Finnish households. It is carbon neutral, with a carbon footprint significantly smaller than that of traditional carrier bags used in the retail market, including paper and cotton bags.

Amerplast said these recycling bags were mentioned as the best option in the Optikassi Study, published in 2009 by the Finnish Environment Institute and Lappeenranta University of Technology. It had examined the life cycle impacts of shopping bags used in Finland’s retail sector with emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2016, Finland started a system to collect consumer packaging waste, which was recycled and processed into "CIRCO" high-quality recycled plastics at Fortum Recycling & Waste Solutions Circular Economy Village.

Amerplast CEO Børge Kvamme said "the concept can be utilised also in other flexible packaging applications, enabling even greater progress towards environmentally more sustainable packaging.”

Amerplast, which started manufacturing recycled carrier bags in 1995, has around 400 employees.