Yvette Arellano heads the Houston-based environmental justice organization Fenceline Watch.The group, which advocates for communities along the petrochemical corridors of the U.S. Gulf Coast, sees the treaty as “vital” to its work reducing pollution and toxic chemical exposure in those communities and halting the growth of plastic production. Arell…

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.Peeters, who is a paid consultant for the United Nations Environment Programme and an unpaid adviser to the Business…

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.For his association, that means no caps or bans on plastic production and a focus on reducing plastic pollution in the environment. Seaholm also discusse…

Plastic recycling companies see the treaty as a “huge” opportunity to bring change and help struggling plastics recycling markets.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 s…

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.Baca talked about the need to expand waste management systems to 3 billion people around the world who don’t…

Flexible plastic packaging has recycling challenges but is popular in the marketplace, protecting food while being lightweight and reducing other environmental impacts.Graham Houlder, the director of the European industry group Ceflex, said they want to see the treaty endorse extended producer responsibility legislation and global packaging design …

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.The coalition is made up of major consumer brand companies like Unilever, where Shepherd works, as well as financia…

Betsy Bowers, the head of the Expanded Polystyrene 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.The group, which represents companies that make EPS packaging used in consumer products like electronics, …

Anja Brandon is associate director of U.S. plastics policy with the environmental group Ocean Conservancy.Their priorities for the treaty include meaningful source reduction of single-use plastics, addressing lost fishing gear and microplastic pollution, and working to have the treaty exclude chemical recycling. Brandon, a former U.S. Senate staffe…

Ben Harp at Polymer Conversions was stumped on rising premium costs for health care for his employees. So he took on the health care industry. And won.This episode of Plastics News Radio is brought to you by the Caps and Closures Conference in Chicago. For more information, visit http://www.plasticsnews.com/caps…