Plastics Unwrapped

The Asia Pacific region tends to dominate the rankings and headlines in coverage surrounding global plastic waste. But the pace of innovation and change in plastics production, consumption and waste in the region has been faster than you think, led by China. This episode explores new policies being introduced and what can lead to solution scaling, with Junice Yeo, Executive Director at Eco-Business, Thomas Luedi, Senior Partner at Bain & Company, and Kodak Xiao, Global Sustainability Director at Dow.

In this episode, entrepreneurs David Roubach and Felix Bobbink share their sustainability innovations within the plastics industry and how they are revolutionizing plastics at both consumer and industrial levels. Dow Global Business Development Director Christophe Marché highlights the need for large businesses to pivot and become disruptive, and University of California, Berkeley professor Dr. Ting Xu shares how at the core of all this disruptive innovation is science and research.

Mechanical recycling has existed for decades, but capacity isn’t keeping up with demand. In part two of our recycling and beyond conversation, Dow Global Sustainability Director Haley Lowry and Neste Vice President of Value Chain Development Jeroen Verhoeven discuss alternative innovations the industry is focusing on to fill gaps for recycled plastic requirements and carbon emission targets, including advanced recycling— also known as molecular or chemical recycling.

Recycling and Beyond Part 1 explores the challenges of waste management in countries on the frontline of dealing with plastic waste. With insights from Zoë Lenkiewicz, Waste Management and Sustainable Development Specialist at the United Nations Environment Program, and Chege Ngugi, Regional Director in Africa of ChildFund International, this episode takes a look at the impact, challenges and solutions of collection, sorting and recycling for communities most impacted by plastic waste in Africa.

Design Thinking Plastics Part 2 continues our deep dive into how design can redefine the sustainability of plastics. In this episode, we discover how businesses and designers are putting design thinking to action with Rosalie McMillan, Co-founder of Smile Plastics, and Daniella Souza Miranda, Global Marketing Director at Dow.

What does design thinking plastics for a future of sustainability mean? In Design Thinking Plastics Part 1, Tony Chambers, Founder of TC & Friends and former editor-in-chief of Wallpaper, delves into how design thinking reimagines the role of plastics in our lives, helps drive solutions for its end of life and its future in a circular world.

In this episode, Dow’s Marc van den Biggelaar is joined by Oliver Borek, Chief Commercial Officer of Mura, and Virginia Janssens, Managing Director of Plastics Europe, to discuss the importance of decarbonization and circularity working together to help the EU meet its ambitious climate goals.

In this episode, Dow’s Carolina Gregorio is joined by David Carroll of Plastics Europe and David Croft of Reckitt to discuss the criticism of plastics in the mainstream media and consider the pressure this is putting on the industry. Together, they dive into last year’s COP26 climate conference, exploring the main hurdles we face in decarbonization and some of the work being done behind the scenes to help the plastics industry achieve net zero.

In this episode hear about the progressive partnerships taking place across the African continent to transform the way plastic waste is collected through new business models for sustainable development. Dow’s Africa Sustainability and Advocacy Manager, Adwoa Coleman, is joined by two trailblazing CEOs - Vivien Luk, Executive Director of non-profit organization WORK, and Cordie Aziz-Nash founder of Environment 360, who together share their expertise on the changes needed to transform the informal waste sector on the continent, and transform the lives of waste pickers through meaningful work that keeps plastic out of the environment and in a closed-loop for a more sustainable future.

In this episode, Dow’s Julie Zaniewski, North America Sustainability Director for Packaging and Specialty Plastics, is joined by Jay Fitzgerald from the US Department of Energy, and Kathleen Liang from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Together, they look at the challenges of innovating, encouraging investment, and working in partnership to scale solutions that will ensure that plastics can be part of a sustainable future.