Advancing Circular Economy Solutions: SEE's Leadership in Plastic Waste Management
Timi Fadiran, Ph.D., oversees sustainability technology innovation at SEE, focusing on discovering and promoting new technologies to transition to circular business models. He spearheads SEE's partnerships with advanced recycling technology providers, examining the compatibility of essential packaging with these methods and setting standards for advanced recycling technologies. Recognized by the American Chemistry Council, Timi was highlighted as one of America’s Change Makers for his contributions to sustainable transformation in the plastics sector.
Why is circularity crucial for SEE?
Although circularity might seem like a recent concept, many have practiced it for some time. For instance, individuals who return shopping bags and other flexible plastics to store collection bins are participating in circularity by allowing these materials to be transformed into new products. Recognizing the irresponsibility of waste and the value in repurposing used materials is a common understanding, which makes recycling appealing to many. Circularity involves renewing or regenerating products instead of discarding them as waste.
SEE views circularity as essential to preventing plastic waste from ending up in landfills and the environment, while also reducing the reliance on fossil fuels. SEE’s packaging solutions are designed to minimize waste, yet continuous innovation is necessary to eliminate plastic waste. Without achieving circularity in flexible packaging, the issue of plastic waste will persist and grow.
How is SEE advancing circular value chains that prevent waste, recover materials, and reduce dependence on natural resources?
SEE is in a prime position to promote circularity within the flexible packaging industry due to its relationships with plastic producers and customers. This position allows SEE to understand the product lifecycle from raw material production to end use or disposal.
SEE has developed in-house testing capabilities to evaluate the recyclability of its products within the existing mechanical recycling infrastructure. Additionally, SEE is exploring advanced recycling solutions (such as chemical or molecular recycling) to process difficult-to-recycle plastic waste and remanufacture it into reusable plastics. Advanced recycling employs various technologies that use chemical processes to recycle a wider range of plastic products, including complex flexible materials and food-contact packaging.
SEE further supports circularity by producing packaging solutions with recycled content derived from recovered flexible packaging, thus lessening reliance on natural resources. The company demonstrates its leadership in the industry through projects like the collaboration with ExxonMobil and Ahold Delhaize USA, where food packaging waste was diverted from landfills, processed through advanced recycling, and used to create new food-grade packaging materials for poultry. This initiative proved the technical, economic, and scalable potential of advanced recycling and circular economy models.
How is SEE investing and collaborating to accelerate scalable circularity solutions?
Investments and partnerships are key to accelerating the market introduction of scalable solutions, leveraging innovation for sustainable competitive advantage. SEE has participated in numerous projects confirming the viability of advanced recycling for hard-to-recycle food packaging waste.
In 2020, SEE made an equity investment in Plastic Energy, a leader in advanced recycling technology, to enhance material circularity and expand packaging recyclability. This collaboration has led to a successful closed-loop demonstration, recycling flexible plastics collected from store drop-off locations into new food packaging. SEE has also invested in initiatives such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste and Closed Loop Partners to further circularity efforts addressing plastic waste.
SEE participates in the REMADE Institute, a collaborative effort uniting industry leaders, academic researchers, trade organizations, and national labs to drive the transition towards a circular economy in the United States. Through this partnership, SEE initiated a project with Michigan State University to explore more effective methods for sorting and cleaning contaminated plastic waste.
Our involvement underscores the importance of collaboration. No single entity within the value chain can tackle this challenge alone. Industry experts, competitors, academia, trade organizations, and other stakeholders must collaborate to innovate, scale recycling infrastructure, and advance towards a circular economy. Cross-sector collaboration is essential for addressing the complex issue of eliminating plastic waste.
How is your team contributing to SEE’s circularity initiatives?
My team leads efforts in identifying and promoting new technologies, such as pyrolysis and gasification, to facilitate the recovery, processing, and repurposing of SEE's flexible packaging solutions. We engage closely with customers to understand their plastic waste challenges, including the composition of waste plastics, levels of food contamination, and feasible recycling options.
Collaborating with circular technology providers, we assess factors such as the necessary preparation of plastic waste, handling of complex flexible packaging with multiple plastics, and tolerance for food contamination in recycling processes. Leveraging chemistry, we determine the capabilities and limitations of advanced recycling for hard-to-recycle plastics and food-contaminated materials.
Our goal is to establish new recycling avenues for flexible plastics, enabling SEE and its customers to achieve ambitious sustainability targets and minimize environmental footprints.
Why is circularity crucial for SEE?
Although circularity might seem like a recent concept, many have practiced it for some time. For instance, individuals who return shopping bags and other flexible plastics to store collection bins are participating in circularity by allowing these materials to be transformed into new products. Recognizing the irresponsibility of waste and the value in repurposing used materials is a common understanding, which makes recycling appealing to many. Circularity involves renewing or regenerating products instead of discarding them as waste.
SEE views circularity as essential to preventing plastic waste from ending up in landfills and the environment, while also reducing the reliance on fossil fuels. SEE’s packaging solutions are designed to minimize waste, yet continuous innovation is necessary to eliminate plastic waste. Without achieving circularity in flexible packaging, the issue of plastic waste will persist and grow.
How is SEE advancing circular value chains that prevent waste, recover materials, and reduce dependence on natural resources?
SEE is in a prime position to promote circularity within the flexible packaging industry due to its relationships with plastic producers and customers. This position allows SEE to understand the product lifecycle from raw material production to end use or disposal.
SEE has developed in-house testing capabilities to evaluate the recyclability of its products within the existing mechanical recycling infrastructure. Additionally, SEE is exploring advanced recycling solutions (such as chemical or molecular recycling) to process difficult-to-recycle plastic waste and remanufacture it into reusable plastics. Advanced recycling employs various technologies that use chemical processes to recycle a wider range of plastic products, including complex flexible materials and food-contact packaging.
SEE further supports circularity by producing packaging solutions with recycled content derived from recovered flexible packaging, thus lessening reliance on natural resources. The company demonstrates its leadership in the industry through projects like the collaboration with ExxonMobil and Ahold Delhaize USA, where food packaging waste was diverted from landfills, processed through advanced recycling, and used to create new food-grade packaging materials for poultry. This initiative proved the technical, economic, and scalable potential of advanced recycling and circular economy models.
How is SEE investing and collaborating to accelerate scalable circularity solutions?
Investments and partnerships are key to accelerating the market introduction of scalable solutions, leveraging innovation for sustainable competitive advantage. SEE has participated in numerous projects confirming the viability of advanced recycling for hard-to-recycle food packaging waste.
In 2020, SEE made an equity investment in Plastic Energy, a leader in advanced recycling technology, to enhance material circularity and expand packaging recyclability. This collaboration has led to a successful closed-loop demonstration, recycling flexible plastics collected from store drop-off locations into new food packaging. SEE has also invested in initiatives such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste and Closed Loop Partners to further circularity efforts addressing plastic waste.
SEE participates in the REMADE Institute, a collaborative effort uniting industry leaders, academic researchers, trade organizations, and national labs to drive the transition towards a circular economy in the United States. Through this partnership, SEE initiated a project with Michigan State University to explore more effective methods for sorting and cleaning contaminated plastic waste.
Our involvement underscores the importance of collaboration. No single entity within the value chain can tackle this challenge alone. Industry experts, competitors, academia, trade organizations, and other stakeholders must collaborate to innovate, scale recycling infrastructure, and advance towards a circular economy. Cross-sector collaboration is essential for addressing the complex issue of eliminating plastic waste.
How is your team contributing to SEE’s circularity initiatives?
My team leads efforts in identifying and promoting new technologies, such as pyrolysis and gasification, to facilitate the recovery, processing, and repurposing of SEE's flexible packaging solutions. We engage closely with customers to understand their plastic waste challenges, including the composition of waste plastics, levels of food contamination, and feasible recycling options.
Collaborating with circular technology providers, we assess factors such as the necessary preparation of plastic waste, handling of complex flexible packaging with multiple plastics, and tolerance for food contamination in recycling processes. Leveraging chemistry, we determine the capabilities and limitations of advanced recycling for hard-to-recycle plastics and food-contaminated materials.
Our goal is to establish new recycling avenues for flexible plastics, enabling SEE and its customers to achieve ambitious sustainability targets and minimize environmental footprints.
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