Brand owners are under pressure to incorporate environmentally friendly packaging, and they often look to the recycling industry for help.
Paulina Leung
A session at the 2019 Plastics Recycling Conference and Trade Show will explore how plastics recovery entities can connect product and packaging makers with the recycled resins they need as well as with technical training and information on harnessing more PCR.
The session, titled “How the Recycling Sector Can Meet Needs of Brands,” will include Paulina Leung, VP of corporate strategy and business development for Emterra. The Canadian waste management and recycling company, which serves more than 10 percent of the country’s population, recently began a joint partnership to work closely with brands on meeting their recycled material and recyclability goals.
What do you plan to cover in your presentation?
I’ll touch on the following topics:
- Perspective into getting the recycling and resource management industry involved much earlier in the supply chain process – for example, starting from design, right on through to end-of-life management of products and packaging. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” as they say.
- Perspective into the “reverse supply chain” that is the recycling and resource management industry.
- How can the recycling industry and brands be responsive to as well as proactive with consumer and government-led requirements?
Last year, Emterra and multiple other recycling companies formed Circular Polymers Group. What’s the goal of that project?
CPG was formed to help the recycling sector meet the needs of brands … the exact title of this session! Plastics Recycling Update last year wrote an article laying out key details of the CPG project.
What makes you excited about being in the industry right now?
There is growing engagement across the value chain and more breaking down of silos. Much more work needs to be done in this area, but directionally, we are going the right way. In addition, we are seeing the possibilities brought by technology that is advancing at a faster and faster rate. What we can do now should not be a gauge of what we can do in the future, and thus our collective thinking must be more agile, open and creative. There is a sense of urgency right now and we must leverage and build on this momentum for positive change – economically, environmentally and socially.
Leung will speak during Concurrent Session C – “How the Recycling Sector Can Meet Needs of Brands” – to be held from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12. Joining her on the stage will be Steve Alexander, president and CEO of the Association of Plastic Recyclers, and Rob Flores, director of sustainability for Berry Global. The session will be moderated by Dan Leif, managing editor of Plastics Recycling Update and Resource Recycling magazines. See more details on the Plastics Recycling Conference website.
