Plasticity Forum

What to do with “tragic plastic” (mismanaged plastic which gets lost to the environment and will never get recycled)? Join in on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) webinar on February 5th at 9am HK time to learn more about this broad solution for creating value in the construction industry while remediating one of the world’s most complex environmental issues - plastic pollution….. and also hear from Donald Thomson, one of our two-time Plasticity Forum alumni! CRDC GLOBAL #resin8 #sustainability #circularity #plastic #recycling #plasticity Ocean Recovery Alliance Siam Cement Public Co Ltd #constructionmaterial #aggregate

Circular economy must be central in the fight against plastic pollution….. Global plastic pollution has finally made it to the forefront of the international agenda, with a United Nations-backed plastic treaty under negotiation for the past two years but with an unsuccessful conclusion in Busan, South Korea, last week. This gives needed time for further focus and alignment-building, otherwise we’d likely have had a vague document with little impact. The importance of focusing on qualified plastic feedstock for recycling regrettably seems to have been relegated to a minor role, however. The negotiations have mainly focused on reduction and reuse models, extended producer responsibility programmes, taxes and other mechanisms to restrain the demand and production of plastic. Even in the best-case scenario, if all of these magically get legislated into domestic economies. our modelling suggests that these levers would generate a significant, but still inadequate, 30 per cent reduction in plastic pollution by 2040. This means that at least 70 per cent of what is produced annually still needs to be remediated or circulated. That is precisely why a recycling option is needed with a new collective, thoughtful focus on scale and success, which has not been the case in decades past. South China Morning Post: https://lnkd.in/gQ7in_Vj #plastictreaty #inc5 #inc5.2 #recycling #circularity #plasticity Ocean Recovery Alliance Plastic Disclosure Project #cop17 #plasticity25 #feedstock The New York Times

Readers might like the study we put out a few years ago, funded by UN Environment Programme, which studied 580 global commitments on plastic. From this research we created the first scorecard and toolkit to make commitments “better” if already underway, or how to launch them with more power and replicability from the onset. https://lnkd.in/gvDYm6gy #plastic #recycling #commitments #circulareconomy #inc5 #plastictreaty #movethedial #takethelead CNN #plasticity #sustainability #feedstock Society Of Plastic Engineers Inc

The week many of us have all been working towards, and hopefully the creation of the world’s first Treaty on Plastic Pollution. With so many stakeholders involved, it’s a complex algorithm of tools, levers and considerations, but all with a broad goal of reducing pollution. #plastictreaty #inc5 #circularity #recycling #plastic #feedstock #globalcircularity

We look forward to seeing some of you in Busan for the INC5 discussions and part of the Korean Ministry of Environment’s session of side events as part of “Rethinking Plastic Life.” Our side event, co-hosted between Ocean Recovery Alliance and ISWA International Solid Waste Association is on Nov. 25th from 14:00-15:30. #plastic #recycling #inc5 #plastictreaty #basel #baselconvention #circulareconomy #plasticity #feedstock #sustainability Plastic Disclosure Project Ocean Recovery Alliance 10 Billion Strong Justin Robertson Verdn (YC, B Corp)

Thanks to the American Chamber of Commerce Magazine in Hong Kong for the article on plastic, some of our programs, and the upcoming UN Plastic Treaty potential options for reduced plastic pollution. Some of this takes a bit of reading and digestion regarding the Treaty, as some is counterintuitive and in contrast to what much of the popular press has been championing. https://lnkd.in/g2JFXmWD #unplastictreaty #inc5 #plastic #recycling #plasticitymiami24 #sustainability

Thanks to the American Chamber of Commerce Magazine in Hong Kong for the article on plastic, some of our programs, and the upcoming UN Plastic Treaty potential options for reduced plastic pollution. Some of this takes a bit of reading and digestion regarding the Treaty, as some is counterintuitive and in contrast to what much of the popular press has been championing. https://lnkd.in/gchvruG2 #unplastictreaty #inc5 #plastic #recycling #plasticitymiami24 #sustainability #circulareconomy The Economist #harvestplastic #feedstock

Save the Date! The Plasticity Forum is back - this time in Miami at the end of April ‘25! We look forward to seeing you there for a big discussion on plastic, without the waste footprint.

As a follow-on to yesterday’s post on plastic recycling and it’s international “image, Dan Leif’s article shed some interesting light on the metrics and assumptions used to influence stakeholders that recycling “doesn’t work” as it should. A clever reader will see the nuances here, and why these claims are misguided. This perception is sadly now influencing the way the UN Plastic Treaty is being discussed, without the critical focus of recycling as the most significant plastic-sequestering piece of the puzzle for reducing pollution. And the amazing thing, again not being discussed, is that much of this can be done with no technology input at all, but simply societal change programs which create cleaner feedstock streams of uncontaminated (plastic) materials. We have done this in two countries and it works, with no reason it can’t be replicated everywhere. A few good quotes from him might peak your interest on some other options being put forth in the treaty discussions, none of which have a remediation factor included in the way they work. “As I noted at the outset, a reuse-oriented packaging landscape is one I stand behind. But that is a massive undertaking, akin to removing all passenger cars from our roads and moving entirely to electric-based public transportation. “Just as we would need to move incrementally to that clean transportation dream (promote electric cars while scaling up infrastructure for trains, for instance), we have to take practical, realistic steps toward a stronger packaging future.” https://lnkd.in/g6K4z9F3 #unplastictreaty #plastic #recycling #sustainability #plasticity Unilever Danone The Coca-Cola Company Patagonia IKEA National Geographic NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Antoine Pellion Alliance to End Plastic Waste Harvard Business School Stanford University Graduate School of Business University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Great article here on plastic recycling and its misperceived value. This is particularly important (and not well acknowledged enough among the member-state delegates) for the ongoing UN Plastic Treaty negotiations. One of the problems with scaled success of recovered material for recycling is that “most plastic containers are not getting back into the recycling system, and recyclers simply cannot recycle what they don't collect. For example, only 3 out of 10 water and soda bottles in the U.S. get put into recycling bins, despite those bottles being 100% recyclable.” “In this context, we must focus on real solutions to make recycling work more effectively. The truth is that recycling has never had adequate, sustained funding, and it has been left for local governments to manage. This strategy has resulted in an inequitable, largely inefficient system.“ Stay tuned for a follow-on article on recycling metrics and the way it misrepresents the opportunity this solution offers for reduced plastic pollution. https://lnkd.in/eEe98bhA #plastic #recycling #inc5 #unplastictreaty Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) #sustainability #packaging #plasticity #plasticdisclosure