The 2014 “Our Ocean” conference did more than just call attention to the need to protect the world’s oceans. It also made it clear that all countries and groups, including the plastics manufacturing industry, need to continue to be part of the solution.

“The ad hoc approach we have today with each nation and community pursuing its own independent policy simply will not suffice,” said Secretary of State John Kerry in his keynote address. “We are not going to meet this challenge unless… the entire
world comes together to try to change course and protect the ocean from unsustainable fishing practices, unprecedented pollution, or the devastating effects of climate change.”

“There are a lot of challenges staring us in the face and we need to act on them,” says SPI president and CEO Bill Carteaux, who attended the invitation-only meeting this past June in Washington. “Getting the invitation to go was certainly a feather in our cap and recognition by the State Department that the plastics industry is not just part of the problem, but part of the solution, and needs to be in the discussion.”

Carteaux believes SPI’s presence at the conference will help develop relationships with non-government organizations (NGOs) that might not have been otherwise possible. “It has given us a platform to connect with NGOs and begin to develop projects with them,” he says. “We already have meetings set up with several NGOs. It is heartening to me that people want our help and want us to work with them.”

In addition, SPI and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) will meet this year with the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address marine debris issues.

More than 60 plastics associations representing 34 countries have more than 185 projects underway to address marine debris—part of an initiative that began in March 2011. Those initiatives include the Operation Clean Sweep plastic pellet containment program that SPI and ACC have taken across the globe.

“It is still early, and no one has all the answers to tackling marine debris, but we are making progress,” says Carteaux. “One of the keys is to attack it and get people to dispose of things properly. A number of people at the conference came up to me and said: ‘I’m glad you’re here because the plastics industry isn’t the problem, it’s an issue of people not disposing things properly.’

“We want to push recycling and collection around the world, and push new uses for recycled material,” he adds, “because if we do that, plastics won’t end up in wastewater and in oceans.”

Nestle Waters North America also believes “recycling is the cornerstone of sustainable packaging”—for solving the marine debris problem. “Policy and action can work together to help advance stewardship of the oceans and all waterways,” said Brian Flaherty, vice president of public policy and external affairs for Nestle Waters North America, who addressed the issue of marine debris in a presentation at the conference.

“We need to stop plastics from entering our oceans in the first place. The global challenge of marine debris that we are talking about here today is massive in scope. It is going to take all stakeholders coming together and making commitments to identify and implement solutions.

“The lessons we’ve learned are be humble, listen, learn, and evolve,” added Flaherty. “Think big, take the first step, and be transparent on how you’re doing.”

Carteaux says he walked away from the conference with at least three projects SPI can immediately work on:

• Get other countries to allow the use of post-consumer recycled resin in food packaging, similar to the approach of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Campaign for tax credits for the use of recycled resin. “If we can develop the markets, we can get the supply.”
• Solve the challenge to recycling that comes from PET bottles that have polypropylene caps.
  
  

“Addressing those things would have a significant impact on what’s going on and begin to solve some of the issues that lead to marine debris,” he explains.