Technological watch
Re-framing the future of food-grade polypropylene
Professor Edward Kosior, CEO and Founder of Nextek and NEXTLOOPP, shares his expertise on innovation in plastics and recycling for the food packaging sector.
Re-framing the future of food-grade polypropylene Professor Edward Kosior
Since the 1950s the world has produced around 8bn tonnes of plastic with very little regard, until recent years, as to how we manage its end of life. This is a reflection of our outdated and exploitative approach to the economy that is based on the belief that we can extract resources boundlessly, use them inefficiently, and discard them without regard for the environment.
As Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, puts it we are drawing from the planet more than it can regenerate and polluting more than we can clean up.
We need to change the future of plastics in our world as we are well past the time for preventing plastic pollution, yet conversely we also depend on this valuable material for many positive solutions. Reducing food waste being just one such example.
Plastic is not the enemy - how we manage it is. As such, the call for a cap on production of virgin plastics by an international group of scientific experts is only one half of the solution.
Closing the loopsCapping
Re-framing the future of food-grade polypropylene Professor Edward Kosior
Since the 1950s the world has produced around 8bn tonnes of plastic with very little regard, until recent years, as to how we manage its end of life. This is a reflection of our outdated and exploitative approach to the economy that is based on the belief that we can extract resources boundlessly, use them inefficiently, and discard them without regard for the environment.
As Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, puts it we are drawing from the planet more than it can regenerate and polluting more than we can clean up.
We need to change the future of plastics in our world as we are well past the time for preventing plastic pollution, yet conversely we also depend on this valuable material for many positive solutions. Reducing food waste being just one such example.
Plastic is not the enemy - how we manage it is. As such, the call for a cap on production of virgin plastics by an international group of scientific experts is only one half of the solution.
Closing the loopsCapping
This project has been co-funded with the support of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Union [LIFE17 ENV/ES/000438] Life programme
The website reflects only the author's view. The Commission is not responsible for any use thay may be made of the information it contains.Last update: 2022-01-31
