Eastman wants to prove to the world that waste can be valuable. That’s according to Scott Ballard, vice president of specialty plastics at the company.

“We believe the world has an urgent waste problem and like many others, we also believe a circular economy is the only reasonable solution,” Ballard said. “For that to happen, there’s a massive amount of change, innovation and collaboration that has to take place.”

Heather Clancy, editorial director at GreenBiz, interviewed Scott Ballard, vice president of specialty plastics at Eastman, during Circularity 20, which took place on August 25-27, 2020. View archived videos from the conference here.

Back in March, Joel Makower, GreenBiz executive editor, visited Eastman’s sprawling industrial site, covering roughly 900 acres in Kingsport, Tennessee. Read his story ‘Inside Eastman’s moonshot goal for endlessly circular plastics.’

Since Avangard Innovative came onto the recycling scene 30 years ago, the company has expanded its presence to 11 countries. Its goal is to lower waste costs and what’s going into a landfill, said Rick Perez, chairman and CEO of the company. 

Perez noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the work Avangard Innovative does. “At the end of the day, you have to pivot your business. You have to find a way to make it more valuable,” said Perez, adding that the demand for post-consumer resin is still present.

Avangard Innovative has piloted and is now scaling its recycling work by building post-consumer resin facilities in Houston, New Mexico and Nevada.

Heather Clancy, editorial director at GreenBiz, interviewed Rick Perez, chairman and CEO at Avangard Innovative, during Circularity 20, which took place on August 25-27, 2020. View archived videos from the conference here.