“The Circular Economy is neither Circular nor an Economy. Not yet!”

- Trish Hyde

It was the hot topic at Plasticity 2020: The Directors’ Cut - and founder and CEO of The Plastics Circle, Trish Hyde, didn't shy away from it.

The Directors' Cut was a spirited 90-minute distillation of learnings and insights gleaned over a decade of global Plasticity forums. Curated and co-hosted by long time collaborators Trish Hyde and Plasticity founder, Doug Woodring, the session opened with an overview of the economics of circularity.

Market Failures

Trish blames systemic market failures for the Circular Economy’s inability to close the loop – particularly in Asian markets - and sees the regulatory focus (trade bans, SUP bans and EPR) and ‘pollution control systems’ as having unintended consequences for circularity.

Instead, she suggests, treat plastic as an economic problem to stimulate business-led market disruption – and innovate in procurement, clean-tech, material pricing, international trade policies, and more.

She pointed to the strong - yet unmet - demand for PCR plastics in Asia – which she described as ‘a market ready for disruption'.

Adding that a commercially focused entity that also benefits people and the planet, is most likely to succeed in this milieu.

Plasticity 2020 – the Directors’ Cut was a side event at UNEP/ COBSEA’S Sea of Solutions, held in November this year. Watch Trish, Doug, and special guests Joshua Wycliffe (Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Waterways and Environment, Fiji) and Alok Pandey (Senior Programme Manager, Solidaridad Asia) in the Directors’ Cut here.