The Plasticity Forum is in its 5th year and it is coinciding with CHINAPLAS, the 2nd largest plastic and rubber convention in the world. The CHINAPLAS article, by Rose Brooks on MiddleEastPlastic.com highlights the array of innovation and technology at the Shanghai event, as well as talking about the need for China to use more robotics to address ever rising labor costs, but for me the key was the link to the Plasticity Forum.
The Forum looks to bring an array of experts together from politicians to scientists to discuss how to address both plastic production and the huge amount of waste. From the website:
Every year 280 million tons of plastic is produced globally, yet estimates suggest that only 10% each year is actually recycled. Capturing this waste stream presents a significant and untapped business opportunity, as does the redesign of packaging, and the thought process around waste creation. The Plasticity Forum presents ideas and opens up discussions on how to harness this material in new ways, both “pre” and “post” consumer use.
We address design, materials, innovations, re-use, and waste reduction in the aim of encouraging further innovations within plastic use and powerful collaborations between our community which includes producers, users, recyclers, designers, innovators and entrepreneurs.
About me: Sean McClure is a former Senior Advisor at the White House. Sean is currently the Suspension and Debarment Advisor to the Department of the Treasury and with over 15 years of experience working at the White House, Department of the Treasury, USAID, and Department of State. He has traveled extensively to 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
