Big Ideas

Recycling is often seen as a singular entity, but it is actually a whole chain of elements from collection to end-usage of recycled material. Amcor's David Clark speaks to Dr. Shannon Bouton, Global Executive Director, Sustainable Communities at McKinsey.org, about rethinking recycling and what that involves at the community level in emerging economies like Argentina and Indonesia.

To coincide with UN World Environment Day, Erin Simon, Director of Sustainable Research and Development at WWF, talks with Amcor's David Clark about WWF's four-pillar strategy on plastic waste and insights from her recently published report 'No Plastic in Nature: a Practical Guide for Business Engagement'.

Inspirational UN "Champion of the Earth" Afroz Shah talks with Amcor's David Clark about his passion for the environment. He started a movement to clean up one beach in India and spurred a movement that cleared more than 20,000 tonnes of trash from that location. Today, he is a globally recognised voice, spreading the word about waste reduction and the need to protect oceans and rivers across India – and around the world.

Stephen Harrod, consultant at Smithers Pira – leader in packaging testing and market research – and author of 'The Future of Ecommerce Packaging to 2022' report, talks with Amcor's David Clark about ecommerce and the circular economy, preventing product damage, and packaging for ecommerce versus bricks-and-mortar.

Extended producer responsibility is a hot topic. Amcor's David Clark speaks with Michelle Carvell from Lorax Compliance (a company delivering environmental compliance software and consultancy to organizations who need to comply with EPR directives) about what can be learned from Canada, Chile and Australia when it comes to effective EPR systems.

Todd Bukowski, Principal at PTIS, LLC a Packaging and Management Consultancy, speaks to David Clark about the future of packaging. What are some of the big trends that are going to impact packaging over the next few decades? He discusses their 'future of packaging' program and insight study which identified the shifting trends to look out for and the four key standouts he thinks are particularly important.

Novamont's Vice President of Marketing, Paul Darby, talks with David Clark about bioplastics – what they are, how they're made, and how to dispose of them. They explore the crucial difference between 'biodegradable' and 'compostable'. The meaning of compostable is explained in this video that Novamont helped to create and was shared by the New Plastics Economy initiative here.

Find out which government policies helped to double recycling rates in the US and dramatically increase recycling of PET bottles in Lithuania in this podcast featuring students from the University of Michigan. The group talks with Amcor's David Clark about their Master's project on how policy can help to close the plastics loop – which is sponsored by Amcor and will be published later in 2019.

Kyla Fisher describes how AMERIPEN is optimizing recycling systems and tackles big questions around what exactly recycling means and how we can plan for the future for emerging markets. What happens when new materials, new markets and multi-material packaging solutions need to be incorporated into the existing recycling system?

Sander Defruyt, leader of the new plastics economy at the Ellen MacArthur foundation, gives his vision for the future of plastic packaging, and reveals why over 250 businesses, associations and governments have joined a global a commitment to end plastic pollution