7 TYPES OF PLASTICS

LET’S DIVE RIGHT IN

BY LOOKING AT PLASTICS TO UNDERSTAND WHY CIRCULAR ECONOMY IS IMPORTANT

1907 2007IMAGE: Mission BlueIMAGE: Photo Researchers Inc

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

ONLY OTHER THING THAT HAS GROWN AS FAST - SINGAPORE!

8 MILLION TONNES EVERY YEAR INTO OCEANS=

1 LARGE GARBAGE TRUCK PER MINUTE

IMAGE: Why Files IMAGE: EarthZine

IMAGE: CNN

85% OF MISMANAGED PLASTIC IS FROM ASIA

PLASTIC ENDS UP IN GIANT OCEAN GYRES

IMAGE: NASA

IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

USED FOR DAYS, TAKES 100’S OF YEARS TO DECOMPOSE

IMAGE: Guardian

YOU ARE EATING PLASTIC

HOW DO WE FIX IT?

GOING CIRCULAR

THE LINEAR ECONOMY WASTES RESOURCES

WASTE IS “DESIGNED OUT”

IMAGE: spenditrightubc.wordpress.com

BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS -RETURNED TO THE SOIL OR USED AS ENERGY

IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

TECHNICAL MATERIALS (LIKE PLASTICS) -DESIGNED TO BE RECOVERED, UPGRADED, REPAIRED, ETC

IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

CURRENT HOUSEHOLD ‘WASTE’

Household ‘Waste’

Landfill

OrganicPlastic Metal Paper Glass Non-Recyclable

Recycling

CURRENT HOUSEHOLD ‘WASTE’

Electronics

Household ‘Waste’

Landfill

Organic Non-Recyclable

Recycling Biogas

WE WOULD HAVE MATERIAL FLOWS

Plastic Metal Paper Glass Electronics

THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY ISN’T NEW

IT’S JUST THAT THE PRESSURE IS NOW GREATER THAN EVER

WE ARE USING 1.6 TIMES THE EARTH’S CAPACITY

PRICE VOLATILITY

MATERIALS RUN OUT

$1 TRILLION OF FOOD IS WASTED EACH YEAR

WASTE GENERATION IS GROWING EXPONENTIALLY

GOVERNMENT TAX - EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY

IMAGE: OECD

$80-120 BILLION OF PLASTIC PACKAGING THROW AWAY YEARLY

IMAGE: SALT

THAT’S EQUIVALENT TO 6 TIMES CAMBODIA’S ECONOMY

BECAUSE THE VAST MAJORITY OF PLASTICS ARE NOT RECYCLED

EVERYONE HATES LANDFILLS

BY CURRENT RATES - OUR COSTS WILL QUADRUPLE

IMAGE: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

CAN PLASTIC PACKAGING BE CIRCULAR?

HERE’S HOW WE GET THERE - REDESIGN, REUSE, RECYCLE

FUNDAMENTAL REDESIGN

“DESIGN OUT” WASTE & DESIGN FOR AN END USE

REPLACE PS/EPS & PVCINNOVATE

REDESIGN / DESIGN OUT SCALE UP

WORLD’S FIRST RECYCLABLE FLEXIBLE POUCH

REUSE

REFILLABLE PRODUCTS

SAVING PACKAGING, TRANSPORT & ENERGY COSTS

OTHER WAYS OF RETHINKING REUSE

RADICALLY IMPROVED RECYCLING

IMPROVING RECYCLING ECONOMICS & QUALITY

EASIER TO COLLECT FROM CITIES THAN OCEANS

IT’S ALSO A LOT CHEAPER

WASTE TO WEALTH - UPLIFTING THE INFORMAL SECTOR

OTHER KEY STEPS FOR RECYCLING IN ASIA

LEGISLATION & INFRASTRUCTURE

EDUCATION/INVENTIVES

LABELLING + +

A NEW MINDSET:WHERE WASTE BECOMES

RESOURCE

URBANISATION -> 3X GROWTH IN URBAN WASTE IN ASIA BY 2025!

SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC, SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL

RETURNS

QUICK RECAP

RISING PER CAPITA WASTE IN ASIA - ‘GARBAGE TSUNAMI’

WE NEED TO COLLABORATE & THINK SYSTEMICALLY

Fossil FuelEg. Shell

Polymer SupplierEg. Dow

Plastic ManufacturerEg. Amcor

FMCG CompanyEg. P&G Consumer

Waste Management Companies

Govt

SYSTEMS THINKING TO GO CIRCULAR

Introducing Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future is an independent, international non-profit with a 20 year track record in driving sustainable development.

Our purpose is to accelerate the big shift to a sustainable future by transforming whole systems.

What we do with partnersto reinvent the way the world works

1Innovate solutions to systemic challenges

2 Develop and deliver transformational strategies

3 Equip people to drive systemic change

We partner with pioneering companies who recognise that sustainability issues are already shaping their business context today, and want to actively create the conditions for their future success.

Business opportunity

• Drive business and industrial innovation

• New sources of value creation

• Aligns with business priorities(i.e. eco-efficiency, risk management, decarbonisation, lean thinking, resilience)

Why circular economy?external pressures + business opportunity

External pressures

• Rising costs for material, energy, land and water

• Risk of resource constraints and price volatility

• Growing legislation placing responsibility on business

Forum for the Future, 2015

However…barriers to achieving CE are complex & systemic

Forum for the Future (2015)

Barriers are complex & systemicrequiring action across several spheres

“The systemic nature of the circular economy requires both the ecosystem and its individual components to change. This means that governance, regulation and business models could potentially be even more important to achieving the transition than design and engineering.”

Gregory Hodkinson, Chairman, Arup (September 2016)

It’s not just about the technologytrust an engineer!

Forum for the Future, 2015

Where to start??

Our circular economy investigations revealedthe need for a value network perspective

Disruptive innovation requires new relationships to access to a greater variety of assets and capabilities.

Circular business models requires re-aligned interests so there is a new flow of value to drive the more sustainable performance.

To get started you need a dynamic community of interested parties – the ‘source material’ for new relationships

The main barriers to a circular economy are not primarily technical

There are circular business models

Thinking in terms of ‘business model’ is useful

Yes!

Sort of

As it turns out, not really!

= value network

Value network?here’s an example

• Industrial aluminium company, HQ-ed in the US, subsidiary of Aditya Birla (Indian conglomerate)

• World’s largest producer of rolled aluminium sheet

• Serves customers in automotive, beverage cans, consumer electronics and construction sectors

• World’s largest aluminium recycler

• 2020 targets:• Zero waste to landfill (from 60 K mt baseline)• 80% recycled metal content (up from 30% baseline

announced in 2011, achieved 53% in 2016)

• Minimise primary aluminium input • 95% reduction in GHG emissions associated with primary

aluminium production

• Minimise aluminium waste generated by customer production processes and consumer use of end-product

Novelisan example

Novelisan example

To close the loop on materials, there is a huge amount of knowledge transfer required between different players in the value network

Blue arrows → where Novelis cannot make change happen on its own

Novelisan example

Novelisan example

A value network perspectivenot a simple feat

• Challenges traditional areas of control and influence - and encourages greater collaboration

• For some this may mean relinquishing control and sharing the ownership (and value) of the results

• “Giving up part of the pie to grow the pie”

Source: McKinsey ReSOLVE framework

Almost every company has a role to play

Impact first: As an NGO, we exist to catalyse change, and that’s our sole motivation.

Positive and ambitious: We believe a sustainable future is possible - we’re tracking signals all the time - but we’ll only work with people who share our appetite for bold leadership.

Partnership and collaboration: System change is only possible when ‘unusual suspects’ work together – we make that happen.

Forum for the Future is an independent, global non-profit with a 20 year track record in driving change towards a sustainable future.

www.forumforthefuture.org@forum4thefuture

Jiehui Kia