Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, tells Catherine Weetman why there are compelling reasons to design plastic out of our lives, and how PlasticFree.com helps us do that…

Plastic is embedded in pretty much every part of our lives. The plastics industry promotes it as the perfect material for thousands of products, being cheap, lightweight, clean, and convenient. But is that really true? And are there better ways to design products, packaging and systems to meet the needs of people, planet and prosperity? 

I’ve been a long time admirer of Sian Sutherland and her work. Sian Co-founded A Plastic Planet, one of the most recognised and respected organisations tackling the plastic crisis and PlasticFree, the first materials and systems solutions platform, empowering global creatives to design waste out at source. 

Sian is passionate about igniting social change, and creating brands and businesses with soul, and is a serial entrepreneur with a varied background across industries. In 2023 at the UN Plastics Treaty negotiations (INC2),  in partnership with Plastic Soup Foundation, A Plastic Planet launched the Plastic Health Council, bringing the expert scientists to the negotiating process with the irrefutable proof of plastic chemicals impact on human health. 

Sian is passionately pro-business and solutions focused, and believes the plastic crisis gives us all a way in to changing both materials and systems to create a different future for next generations. 

I particularly like the courageous way that Sian helps us unpack the key issues around plastics and is actively creating and powering up a range of solutions of plastic-free solutions. As Sian says, by “fixing the plastic crisis, we will fix so much else”

I felt this was a really rich conversation. Sian and A Plastic Planet are involved in so many initiatives and I didn’t want you to miss out on any of Sian’s insights and ideas, so I’ve split the conversation into two episodes.

In this episode we talk about plastic free.com, a new systems and solutions platform for creatives, including designers technologists marketers strategists – that has thousands of case studies and proof points for plastic free solutions. We cover greenwash, vegan leathers, why chemistry is now essential for designers and makers, plus recent science on plastics and health.

Podcast host Catherine Weetman is a circular economy business advisor, workshop facilitator, speaker and writer.  Her award-winning book: A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business includes lots of practical examples and tips on getting started.  Catherine founded Rethink Global in 2013, to help businesses use circular, sustainable approaches to build a better business (and a better world).

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Read on for a summary of the podcast and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention.

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Links we mention in the episode:

• A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business – buy from any good bookseller, or direct from the publisher Kogan Page, which ships worldwide (free shipping to UK and US) and you can use discount code CIRCL20 to get 20% off. It’s available in paperback, ebook and Kindle. If you buy it from online sources, make sure you choose the new edition with an orange cover!
  
• Sign up to get the podcast player and shownotes for each new episode emailed to your inbox
  
• www.plasticfree.com 
  
• www.aplasticplanet.com
  
• www.plastichealthcouncil.com 
  
• Sian on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sian-sutherland-33485b10/
  
• A Plastic Planet on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-plastic-planet/
  
• PlasticFree on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/plasticfree-com/
  

Books, people and organisations we mentioned

• Degenerate trainer/sneaker from the Unless Collective https://unlesscollective.com/products/the-degenerate
  
• Natural Fiber Welding (NFW) https://www.nfw.earth/
  
• Book – The Day the World Stopped Shopping by J B MacKinnon https://www.jbmackinnon.com/the-day-the-world-stops-shopping
  
• Greenpeace article on how long the shopping buzz lasts https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/7493/shopping-doesnt-make-us-happy/
  
• Plants have adapted to the toxic conditions created by nuclear waste from Chernobyl https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190701-why-plants-survived-chernobyls-deadly-radiation
  
• Scientists are working to identify microbes that can feed on ocean and other waste plastics https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/14/bugs-across-globe-are-evolving-to-eat-plastic-study-finds
  
• Jo Chidley – episode 84 https://www.rethinkglobal.info/jo-chidley-rere/
  
• Algramo – episode 103 https://www.rethinkglobal.info/103-algramo-refill-the-future/
  
• Maria Westerbos of the Plastic Soup Foundation – episode 82 https://www.rethinkglobal.info/82-maria-westerbos-plastic-soup-foundation/
  

Guest bio

Sian Sutherland is Co-founder of A Plastic Planet, one of the most recognised and respected organisations tackling the plastic crisis and PlasticFree, the first materials and systems solutions platform, empowering the 160m global creatives to design waste out at source. Igniting social change, creating brands and businesses with soul is Sian’s passion. Multi-award winner, including Female Marketer of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year and British Inventor of the Year; Sian is a serial entrepreneur with varied background across industries. In 2023 at the UN Plastics Treaty negotiations (INC2),  in partnership with Plastic Soup Foundation, A Plastic Planet launched the Plastic Health Council, bringing the expert scientists to the negotiating process with the irrefutable proof of plastic chemicals impact on human health. 

Passionately pro-business and solutions focused, Sian believes the plastic crisis gives mankind a rare gateway to change both materials and systems to create a different future for next generations. 

Interview Transcript

Click here to open the transcript…

Want to find out more about the circular economy?

If you’d like to learn more about the circular economy and how it could help your business, why not listen to Episode 1, or read our guide: What is the Circular Economy? 

To go deeper, you could buy Catherine’s book, A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business. This comprehensive guide uses a bottom-up, practical approach, and includes hundreds of real examples from around the world, to help you really ‘get’ the circular economy.  Even better, you’ll be inspired with ideas to make your own business more competitive, resilient and sustainable. 

Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts.  Or send us an email…

Podcast music

Thanks to Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow, otherwise known as the brilliant, inventive and generous folk duo, O’Hooley & Tidow for allowing me to use the instrumentals from the live version of Summat’s Brewin’ as music for the podcast. You can find the whole track (inspired by the Copper Family song “Oh Good Ale”) on their album, also called Summat’s Brewin’.  Or, follow them on Twitter.

106 Yael Shemer of Tulu – everyday essentials on-demand

11th June 2023


Circular economy


consumer durables


pay-per-use


rental

In episode 106, we hear from another disruptive start up, helping people ‘get more, from less’ – shrinking the footprint of production and consumption by improving the utilization of under-used objects. Today, I’m talking to Yael Shemer, an environmental entrepreneur and the co-founder and chief customer officer of TULU. Tulu is an on-demand service, enabling people to access things to…

105 Gene Homicki – getting more from less with MyTurn

28th May 2023


Circular economy


enablers


rental


sharing


social value


strategy


subscription

We’re going to hear about some amazing software that helps with the 2nd of the 3 key circular strategies I advise people to use… getting more, from less. Finding ways to get more use out of under-utitlized objects can have big benefits, especially by reducing costs. When we think about it, there are probably lots of things – both tools…

104 Richard Burnett – Diversity and packaging innovation

14th May 2023


Circular economy


materials


Packaging


recycling

Innovation and diversification is key to the success of James Cropper, a 6th generation family business, based in the English Lake District. Richard Burnett is Head of Technology and Innovation at James Cropper, a prestige supplier of custom-made paper products to many of the world’s leading luxury brands, art galleries and designers. Richard oversees the Technology & Innovation (T&I) function…

103 Algramo – Refill the future

30th April 2023


Circular economy


Packaging


reuse


supply chain

Reusable packaging startup Algramo is going from strength to strength, and we hear from Brian Bauer and Chris Baker on why customers in Chile, the US and the UK are buying into this. Algramo’s founder, Jose Manuel Moller, came up with a brilliant idea for reusable packaging to help what he called the poverty tax, paid by people who shopped…

102 Jo Spolton – making second-hand our first choice

16th April 2023


Circular economy


enablers


fashion


technology

Jo Spolton is the founder of Rumage, a brilliant online platform that makes it super-easy for people to find – and buy – exactly what they’re looking for across a wide range of secondhand marketplaces. Jo is a Fine Art graduate and was a professional racing sailor. Her adventures when sailing around the world opened a window, showing how badly…

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