SUSTAINABILITY & PLASTICS
AS SUSTAINABILITY IS BECOMING A PRIORITY FOR BUSINESSES AROUND THE WORLD, WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE MORE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN PUT FORWARD.
MATERIAL CONCERNS Sustainability is a huge challenge, and an urgent one, but it is one that has many facets. When somebody talks about sustainability they could be talking about energy, waste, emissions, even transportation and logistics presents a whole range of potential issues around its environmental impact.
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ut one key area that encompasses all of these subjects is materials. Whether it is in packaging or products, the materials we use, how they are sourced, how far they have to travel, how long they last and what happens to them afterwards are all key questions, each of which can have all kinds of environmental implications. One material that has always been at the centre of sustainability discussions is plastics, but while there are certainly issues with their environmental impact, as we have discovered talking to business leaders it is not a simple black-and-white matter.
THE CASE FOR PLASTIC
Sam Sliman, Marketing Manager for Westlake, explains in this issue, “Misuse of plastic has created a perception that plastic is inherently bad. But the reason plastic has proliferated is its exceptional properties which help to prevent food waste
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and allow more efficient transportation, among many other advantages.” One example Sliman points to is farmers with seasonal crops, who use plastic packaging for storage. “It prevents them from spoiling so they can be sold and consumed even off-season,” he tells us. “The same qualities of plastic that can cause problems when it’s misused are also the qualities that can make it a valuable tool for sustainability.” “There is a lot of discussion around plastics in the context of sustainability at the moment, so the future looks complex and challenging because different products of ours are related to plastic,” agrees Stefano Mele, CEO of Fabbri Group. He continues,
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