It's no secret Eric Roegner has been a fierce advocate of the PET bottle since his appointment as president of Amcor Rigid Packaging. But he sees the need to become even more vocal in the face of growing plastics opposition. And he wants others to also raise their voices.
Roegner will not mince words when it comes to what he believes are the positive attributes of PET. He is not shy about who he likes not to like in the battle of public opinion.
"Now, my guess is all of you have seen the media, talked to folks, and here's the reality: We are in a war. We're in a war that's being fought for the hearts and minds and souls of the consumer," Roegner said during a May 7 presentation at NPE2024.
"And that's every consumer in the U.S. We have a very, very determined set of opponents. These opponents have agendas, from NGOs [nongovernment organizations] to can companies to whoever it is. They're willing to play on emotion, and they're unconstrained by facts," Roegner said.
And as far as the Amcor official is concerned, the plastics industry as a whole needs to step up its game in the face of this opposition. He said his message has become even more forceful in support and defense of his industry over time.
"Unfortunately for us as an industry, we're just not doing a great job of fighting back," he said.
But with 2 million people associated with the plastics industry in the United States, there is an opportunity to counteract opponents, he said.
"What I'm talking about is that every single one of us as people, every person in our plants, our families, we have to engage in the frontline battle, in social media, in talking to our schools, and get the message out there that the PET bottle is hands down by far the most sustainable packaging choice on earth," he claimed.
Roegner took shots at those taking shots at his industry, including one company that has built its brand on opposing plastic. Liquid Death, a water brand sold in aluminum cans, wants to see the death of plastics use and is not shy about sending that message.
"Plastic is not technically recyclable anymore because it is no longer profitable to recycle. Most recycling facilities simply send plastic to landfills because they would go out of business trying to recycle it. Environmental economists now say it is actually better for the planet to simply throw your plastic in the trash so that it requires less trucking to get it to the landfill," the front page of Liquid Death's website claims.
Roegner had this to say: "I love hating Liquid Death. Their whole marketing campaign is death to plastics, right?" Roegner said. "And now it's finally all over the internet, and you can get it on social media where someone actually dissolves the aluminum off, and you realize it's got a plastic liner inside of it.
"So, it's so much for death to plastics," he said.
Kristin Kelley is the vice president of corporate communications and external affairs at Amcor Rigid Packaging, and part of her job is crafting messages and responses to opposition.
Kelley said it is important to play both offense and defense when it comes to answering detractors and getting the word out.
Roegner said the production of plastics actually has a good greenhouse gas emissions story to tell, when compared with other substrates like aluminum and glass, despite resin being made from petrochemicals. Delving into the numbers and explaining them does take some effort, however.
"Now that's a complicated story, and it takes a little bit of time to tell it, so we've got to find even more simple ways of saying it," Roegner said. "But the math and the science is on our side."