Grant Rodriquez Amlani's curiosity in the plastics industry came during his undergraduate years and interest in sustainability.
He had always been passionate about the environment, but he "became particularly curious why recycling seemed to be such a confusing beast." Amlani served on his campus' sustainability fund committee and completed a capstone on understanding recycling behaviors through volunteering with the city of Frisco, Texas.
Amlani earned an associate degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, bachelor's degree in geography from the University of North Texas and master's degree in sustainability and development from Southern Methodist University.
"I continued to refine and grow my understanding of recycling and plastics, even focusing research as a graduate student on regional recycling guidelines within the DFW [Dallas-Fort Worth] Metroplex, which led to an invitation to present at the State of Texas Alliance of Recycling's annual meeting. It was during this time I learned about the circular economy and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, so getting to eventually work for the U.S. Plastics Pact — an initiative of the Ellen Macarthur Foundation — really brought it full circle," said Amlani, who is the U.S. Plastics Pact's manager of environmental justice and recruitment.
It was a brand-new role for the nonprofit organization, so Amlani worked closely with the executive director to figure out what the job would look like in practice.
"In my work, I focus more so on social sustainability, ensuring that there is a voice and perspective brought to challenge existing notions of others. I also consider environmental sustainability implications. In my education, I have studied various frameworks such as the [United Nations'] Sustainable Development Goals or Envision rating system from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure," he said. "I am a firm believer that sustainability is not cut and dry, particularly around a circular economy, but that in order to make meaningful progress will take many putting in the effort for more sustainable choices."
Amlani's biggest challenge at work is incorporating an environmental justice lens into all the different pieces of work that the organization does, moving toward a circular economy for plastics packaging.
"The biggest hurdle has been meeting plastics professionals where they are in their understanding of environmental justice and the social implications of choices that we make around plastics and to remedy the complicated relationship between the plastics industry and communities, while understanding realities of plastics role in society," he said. "Additionally, while we have a global network of other plastics pacts we interact with, there is not an explicit counterpart to my role at their organizations or the Ellen MacArthur Foundation."
During graduate school, Amlani was accepted into the Clinton Global Initiative University program, where he focused on the aforementioned recycling guidelines across Dallas-Fort Worth, explored how to improve recycling outcomes and attended its 2023 summit.
"During the summit, I had the privilege of being invited to a private roundtable discussion with former President [Bill] Clinton, where I spoke on my background and work that I was doing, followed by mingling after," he said. "This experience was a particular achievement for me, as the son and grandson of immigrants to the United States, as the encouragement that I am doing important work."