As talks on a global treaty on plastic waste conclude, a Newsweek Horizons event will bring together business leaders, academic experts and environmental organizers for a panel discussion at 6 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 4.
“The Future of Plastics: Reducing Waste and Rethinking Materials” will feature analysis of the treaty and insights into how some companies and communities are developing solutions. You can join the livestream audience by registering here.
A flood of plastic waste is polluting our rivers and oceans, harming wildlife and human health and adding to the greenhouse gases warming our planet. Without action, researchers have found, the world’s plastic waste could double by 2050. But policy interventions to improve waste handling and recycling and reduce the production and use of single-use plastics could sharply cut plastic pollution.
A Newsweek Horizons event will bring together business leaders, academic experts and environmental organizers for a panel discussion at 6 p.m. EST on Wednesday, December 4.
Newsweek
Negotiators in Busan, South Korea, wrapped up what was to be the final round of talks on a United Nations treaty, the culmination of a nearly three-year process to keep plastics out of the environment. However, the talks ended December 1 with no agreement, and the UN is scheduling another round of negotiations in 2025.
The treaty carries enormous implications for a range of industry sectors and government operations, and policymakers, researchers and business leaders are already at work on ways to replace plastics, encourage their reuse and improve recycling.
Our panel of experts from industry and academia will explain the treaty’s potential impact and how some companies and communities are moving beyond plastic waste and toward a circular economy that keeps plastics in their proper place.
Panelists include:
Ron Gonen, founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners. Gonen started the investment firm with a focus on building the circular economy. Previously, he was the deputy commissioner of sanitation, recycling and sustainability in New York City during the Bloomberg administration.
Allison Lin, global VP of packaging sustainability at Mars, Inc. As chief circularity officer at Mars, Inc., Lin leads strategy to improve packaging sustainability. She has worked on sustainability at P&G, Starbucks and Coca-Cola, launching multiple projects to move packaging to more circular formats.
Jonathan Quinn, CEO, U.S. Plastics Pact. As leader of the Plastics Pact, Quinn worked with companies across the plastic industry value chain to develop a roadmap for reducing plastic waste. He has more than 15 years of industry knowledge and experience and is a recognized expert in many areas of plastic packaging and sustainability.
Erin Simon, vice president and head, plastic waste and business, World Wildlife Fund. Since joining WWF in 2011, Simon’s mandate has been to drive positive change across industries in packaging and material sustainability. She helped spearhead WWF’s No Plastic in Nature initiative and organized a corporate action hub to tackle the plastic pollution crisis.
Dr. Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, director at NYU Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards, NYU Grossman School of Medicine. An internationally renowned leader in children’s environmental health, Trasande focuses on the role of environmental exposures in childhood obesity and cardiovascular risks. He is perhaps best known for a series of studies that document the disease costs due to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including many used in plastics.
We hope you can join us for this timely and insightful conversation.
