This episode is brought to you in partnership with Aquafil, synthetic materials producer of Econyl.

A couple of weeks ago, British prime minister Boris Johnson got into a bit of a pickle with some remarks ahead of the UN climate change conference, also known as COP26, which happened in Glasgow. A group of 8- to 12-year-olds met the prime minister at 10 Downing Street this week and asked him, ‘What will you do to make sure less plastic gets into the oceans?” He got a lot of plastics manufacturers and associations really upset when he said recycling isn't the answer. Is he right? That's the question we're going to try and answer today. What is the problem with recycling plastics?

In segment one, materials guru Dr. Andrew Dent, who consults with big global brands on what their products should be made of, takes us through the ins and outs of how we can address our plastics problem. Then, in segment two, we hear a success story from Giulio Bonazzi, CEO of plastics manufacturer Aquafil, who managed to wean an entire division of his company off of virgin plastic.

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