As a child, I loved hearing my father extol the virtues of the polyvinyl flooring business he ran: softness, durability, water resistance, insulation properties, and price. Its odor sometimes made me dizzy as I ran through the warehouse, but compared to wood or ceramic tile, plastic seemed like a cool product. The cheap and versatile material is so attractive, noted Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, that plastics now weigh twice as much as all the animals on Earth. So many eyes are now on Ottawa as lawmakers around the world conclude the latest round of negotiations to create the first global treaty to reduce plastic pollution.
No one is more aware of the challenges of dealing with plastic than those who have built a business around it. Dow CEO Jim Fitterling, a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, recently told me how his company is focused on creating a circular economy. The key is to get brands to integrate recycled materials into their products, offering comparable quality and an attractive price.
Materials company Eastman operates what has been called the world’s largest chemical recycling plant, with more facilities expected to come online. CEO Marcos Costa argues that the complexity of the plastic waste challenge requires collaboration on all fronts. “If we want any opportunity to scale up solutions to this significant challenge,” he says, “we need policies that encourage investment in mechanical and chemical recycling that adheres to fundamental environmental principles.”
Surendra Patawari, a pioneer in the global recycling industry and founder of Gemini Corp., collects plastic waste from more than 300 locations around the world every month. He is concerned that regulatory challenges are making it difficult to recycle plastics. There is often not enough plastic “feedstock” for recycling facilities, which in turn reduces recycling investments. People want to recycle plastics, but often not in their backyard. Encina Corp. recently canceled plans for a plant in Pennsylvania due to resistance to potential pollution from that process.
There will be another round of discussions before any UN treaty is signed, but it’s worth noting that companies have come together through groups like the US Plastics Pact to tackle the problem. “All eyes are on Ottawa and everyone is fighting for their own interests, perhaps rightly so,” says Patawari. While reducing plastics is a priority, he argues, “if we don’t address the cost of the waste we create, we are doomed.”
Meanwhile, as Alan Murray ends his term as CEO of Fortunehere’s a comment from IBM CEO Arvind Krishna on what the brand has meant to him.
“I have always been an avid reader of Fortune, a publication that not only narrates, but shapes the narrative of modern business. His excellent reporting and analysis make him an influential and indispensable guide to the forces impacting businesses, markets and the world.”
More news below.
Diane Brady
@dianebrady
diane.brady@fortune.com
HEADLINES
HSBC CEO steps down
HSBC CEO Noel Quinn has announced he will step down almost five years after leading Europe’s biggest bank. Quinn pivoted HSBC toward Asia, reducing the bank’s presence in the U.S., France and other developed markets. HSBC reported $12.6 billion in pretax profit for the quarter, a year-on-year decline of 1.8%. Bloomberg
Rear doors
TikTok owner ByteDance retained control over some employee systems such as messaging software and technology management, says a former security compliance official. This could have given the Chinese company access to US user data, which employees routinely shared on internal systems. TikTok called the allegations “inaccurate” and “conducted by anonymous sources with a preconceived agenda.” Fortune
Paramount’s new three-person CEO
Paramount will now be run by a three-person “Office of the CEO” after CEO Bob Bakish stepped down on Monday. Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone believes Bakish has not been aggressive enough in pursuing deals for the media company. Paramount, currently in merger discussions with SkyDance Media, reported a quarterly net loss of $554 million on Monday in an earnings call that lasted less than 10 minutes. The New York Times
AROUND THE REFRIGERATOR
Elon Musk publicly left California for Texas – now Golden State customers are getting revenge by ditching Tesla in droves by Amanda Gerut
The EU’s unwinnable price war with Chinese electric vehicles summed up: BYD cars are 11 times more profitable in Europe than in China by Ryan Hogg
Why SBF is turning on FTX’s A-list boosters like Tom Brady and Larry David – and what could happen to them by Niamh Rowe
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, who is in the running for $108m bonus, doesn’t see CEO’s high pay as a problem: ‘Footballers are getting half a million a week’ by Prarthana Prakash
MedMen’s spectacular collapse is complete: Just six years after achieving a whopping $3 billion valuation, the former legal cannabis darling has declared bankruptcy by Dylan Sloan
Tits CEO Daily edition was curated by Nicholas Gordon.
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