Sustainably Speaking

Lots of discussions on the podcast about the need for Legislative action to help fix the return rate by consumers. EPR comes up a lot, at least in the early podcasts. Bottle bills have 50 years of proof of high return rates when compared to voluntary curbside recycling, even before we discuss food grade vs down cycling. NAPCOR has been on the bottle bill circuit for years with a nice PowerPoint. The Association of Plastic Recyclers has a nice PowerPoint. But it takes a lot of effort to move beyond a nice PowerPoint. I’d like a segment or two on what Americas Plastic Makers are doing to pass bottle bill legislation. Do they even want bottle bills? It takes a lot to pass legislation. What actions, money and meetings are taking place to pass a bottle bill? Who is in charge of the effort? What is the plan and budget? What are your members doing to pass a bottle bill? The plastics industry is fighting the environmental groups over bottle bills as punitive and unrealistic. What alternatives are being put forward as a compromise? What actions - specifically- are the American Plastic Makers pursuing to achieve the goal of getting more plastic returned? I’ve heard a lot about what we want to do with used plastic once someone has a piece of plastic at their warehouse, but getting it back to the warehouse is a huge problem that everyone needs to work on. So, a long review, but you asked for podcast ideas. Thanks. Rick

I just discovered this podcast and I’m so encouraged after listening to the first episode. It’s exciting to learn how many people and the corporations they work for are jumping in with new technologies to create improvements in circularity as well as address issues of pollution. As a freelance writer expanding into the energy & environment sectors this podcast is very informative and a great resource for content research. I’m ready to join the plastics crusade!!

I just want to add listeners are very knowledgeable no need to qualify us as average listeners not knowledgeable of plastics, or whatever topic. But I do love the timeliness of the topics and the details.

I know this is a podcast from the plastic industry point of view, but still all the interviews are softball questions and PR-speak. I'd appreciate it more if it were more authentic and truly conversational. I think they make some good points about the reality that plastics can be greener on since ways than alternatives (e.g. lighter for introvert fuel economy, or helping to reduce food waste) but the reality is that the vast majority of plastics *currently* cant be recycled and what it seems from this podcast is advanced recycling (which seemed to be described as just short of waste to energy) is the panacea. Maybe acknowledge the faults of the past?