Why are we leaking and how is it connected to the plastic problem in Sweden?
Malin explores the reasons to why we are leaking and how it’s connected to the plastic problem in Sweden with the CEO of the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, Johanna Ragnartz. The talk is framed around these questions:
Q1: If I'm a business, how do I know if I'm leaking? (01:42)
Q2: How are plastic products and packaging a problem in Sweden? (03:09)
Q3: What’s behind the cause of plastics ending up in nature? (05:03)
Q4: Do you have any examples of what are business doing today to stop the leakage at source? (06:24)
In the end, Jane sums it up by emphasising the need to keep the leakage perspective central.
Credits
Artwork: Giancarlo Mitidieri
Jingle: Frans Sjöberg
Malin:
Hi, and welcome to the episode, We Are Leaking, of the podcast, Hello, Plastic-free Oceans! This is the podcast where we are following the progress of transforming the market on plastic products and packaging in Sweden. Ultimately moving away from taking, making, and wasting to a circular plastics economy. I'm Malin Leth and I'm the host. And for today's show, we have Johanna Ragnartz, CEO of the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation, with us! So, what about this leakage thing? We know we are leaking, but still, we don't? We have talked about it in the podcast already, and for sure we will continue as it is a big challenge. Next year, in 2022, Sweden will have its first circularity gap report done and published. And we can't wait to see the numbers!
Though, thinking of the current situation in Sweden and specifically the leakage, that is what comes out of the system and isn't recovered to circulate back into the economy. Johanna, if I'm a business, how do I know if I'm leaking?
Johanna:
Well, I think a problem is that most companies don't know, and that's the thing, really. Leakage has not been on the agenda such as the climate issue or CO2 emissions. In order to know, you have to analyze your business with the perspective of leakage all through the value chain. And that means procurement, transportation, design, selling points. And I'm sure if you put those new glasses on you will find possible sources of leakage. Just think of the single-use bottle. If leakage had been in focus in the design phase, that would not had become a loose part of the bottle. It would've been attached from the beginning.
Malin:
Wow. It's like a journey of the unknown, exploring those gaps.
Johanna:
Yes. And it's a lot of things that are in that way. You don't have that perspective and you don't expect it to become a problem. But now we know that there is a large problem of leakage actually, so we need to go backwards and see where does it come from.
Malin:
Yeah. And thinking of plastic products and packaging specifically in Sweden and connected to the leakage discussion and the lens we have today, how are they a problem?
Johanna:
Well, everywhere you look, we consume things that are wrapped in plastics. And the problem I believe is the reckless use of plastics in all situations. If the loop and the actors in the system were perfect, the focus would be on the fact that the majority of plastics are made of fossil-based raw material and the amount of CO2 emissions that the industries cause. But the system is not perfect, so it's never safer than its weakest spot. And I believe that it would be the people within. And this means that we will always have a leakage that risks ending up in nature or in our waterways and cause harm to our environment - and possible to ourselves too - we don't know that. And, since the production of plastic packaging is increasing, the risk of an increase in plastics in nature seems like a possible consequence that we're heading.
Malin:
Yeah. There is this interrelation between the more we consume plastic products, the more might end up in nature?
Johanna:
Yes, absolutely. I think that's the story that we have been seeing with more on-the-go packaging, on-the-go consumption. And obviously, a lot of that is wrapped in plastic packaging in whole or parts, and that has ended up in nature. Yeah, if the production is increasing, I think we are looking at increasing volumes in nature as well.
Malin:
But then looking behind those relations, what's behind the cause of plastics ending up in nature?
Johanna:
That's almost, I don't know, the golden question.
Malin:
Did you have the answer?
Johanna:
Oh, of course! No. But plastics are so intertwined in our lives. And I mean, all of the positive aspects of the material is also the risk. Plastics are too cheap as a material, and so we are cautious and we're careless about it. We're not cautious, we are careless about it. There's too little material that is recycled. We are only recycling about 15% in Sweden and this is a developed country.
Consumers need to recycle a larger amount of material in order to build a market for recycled material that is not PET bottles because that's obviously a system that's working quite good. We need to build a market with a bigger amount of material that is available, and we also need to build demand by starting to ask for products made out of recycled material. So we are acting within an economy that we need to take into consideration, and the only way is to build a market of this as well.
Malin:
And then looking more concrete, do you have any examples of what are business doing today to stop the leakage at source?
Johanna:
Well, I think there's a lot of things going on. Of course, there are new regulations on single-use plastics, mostly which aims to decrease the amount of those products. But it's also a new focus on leakage that has been growing on us. One example I think of is from the building industry that has started to take an interest in the leakage from plastics from building sites. That we know they're going with the wind, they're blowing all over the place. And they have now started to measure the amount and see how could they take action for this leakage to be stopped. I think I must be hopeful in a way and think that we both can and will change this situation when we go forward.
Jane:
That was an introduction talk about how we know that we are leaking. Let the leaking perspective be with you in the analysis of your operations. Then you find sources of the hotspots where resources are dropping out of the system you are a part of. And as Johanna says, go holistic and check the entire value chain.
Malin: Also, a thing that I keep in mind and that we have to talk about a lot in the coming episodes is that waste is a net cost. So that means that as we are leaking, we are not only wasting resources, but we are also wasting money.