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Kate Bailey, the chief policy officer for the Association of Plastic Recyclers in the United States, hopes the treaty can push adoption of extended producer responsibility laws and design for recycling. As well, Bailey said the treaty is moving beyond recycling into plastics and chemical health concerns.
Yvette Arellano heads the Houston-based environmental justice organization Fenceline Watch.
Willemijn Peeters, head of consultancy Searious Business, says the treaty needs to move the world away from virgin plastic and into what she calls “real recycling” with extended producer responsibility laws and deposit return systems.
Anja Brandon is associate director of U.S. plastics policy with the environmental group Ocean Conservancy.
Ed Shepherd offers the perspective of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, which wants the agreement to reduce plastics made from virgin fossil fuels and identify problematic plastics or products that can be eliminated.
When we recorded this interview at the Paris talks, Joshua Baca was vice president of plastics at the American Chemistry Council. A few weeks later he left the ACC, but we decided to keep the interview for its perspective on the negotiations.
Matt Seaholm, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association in Washington, wants the treaty to have “ambitious yet reasonable” goals and be something that the U.S. government can agree to.
Flexible plastic packaging has recycling challenges but is popular in the marketplace, protecting food while being lightweight and reducing other environmental impacts.
Betsy Bowers of the EPS Industry Alliance came to the Paris talks in listening mode and to react to early calls in the treaty discussions to include EPS packaging on a list of banned or problematic plastic materials.
In May, Assistant Managing Editor Steve Toloken attended the United Nations' global plastics treaty talks in Paris. He conducted interviews with nine individuals from organizations ranging from industry groups to nonprofit organizations on what they expect to see in a global plastics treaty.