Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications.
Plastic holds properties ideally suited for various applications including: packaging, construction, household and sports equipment, vehicles, electronics, agriculture and more. Its originally advantageous versatility now makes it a challenging product to eliminate from our production lines and everyday lives.
Yet, out of the 300 million tons of plastic produced each year, at least 14 million tons of that plastic end up in the ocean every year.
We are continuously discovering further extent of the damage we have done to our oceans and their marine life cause by overuse of plastics and poor waste management. The most visible impacts of plastic entering the ocean being the ingestion, suffocation and entanglement of marine species.
Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fish and turtles mistake plastic waste for prey; most then die of starvation as their stomachs become filled with plastic.
Plastics also release toxic chemicals throughout their life cycle, which negatively impacts the quality of the water, soils and air, disrupting the entire ecosystem.
As most plastics last forever and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris, Cambridge Cleantech and its network will now focus on the current innovative solutions to reduce plastic in the oceans and improve life below water.
AGENDA:
- 11:00 Welcome & Introductions | Martin Garratt, CEO, Cambridge Cleantech
- 11:05 How the UN SDGs can influence and create impact | Chris Forbes, CEO, Cheeky Panda
- 11:10 Challenges & Opportunities with the plastic problem | Expert Speaker (TBC)
REDUCE
- 11:25 Greenr: The UK’s sustainable shopping platform proposing alternative solutions with impact stats and labels backed by data to show how each product is sustainable.
- Thomas Panton, CEO of Greenr – confirmed
- 11:30 Naturebeads: Natural and biodegradable microbeads produced from renewable and sustainable resources.
- Giovanna Laudisio, CEO and Co-Founder of Naturebeads – confirmed
REUSE
- 11:35 Speaker TBC
- 11:40 CIRCLA: Moving away from single use packaging.
- Claudia Gwinnutt, CIRCLA
RECYCLE
- 11:45 Change Plastic for Good is a company that changes the way plastic impacts our environment, through BDP® and ocean clean up.
- Mike Swain, CTO, Change Plastic For Good
- 11:50 Speaker TBC
- 11:55 Panel Discussion
- 12:05 Breakout rooms
