#51: Creating a Circular Economy Value Chain for Plastics Packaging with Graham Houlder

Getting In the Loop: Circular Economy | Sustainability | Closing the Loop

Today we’re talking about the future of flexible packaging with Graham Houlder, Managing Director of SLOOP Consulting and founder & project coordinator for CEFLEX. In today’s episode, Graham and I talk about CEFLEX (a Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging). CEFLEX is a collaborative initiative of over 150 companies and associations from across the flexible packaging value chain with the aim to make flexible packaging even more relevant in the circular economy. Graham is an expert in this field and, in this episode, he provides significant insight into the world of packaging. Graham shares about collection and take back, including EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), limits to plastic recycling, and how to design for circular packaging. And even if packaging isn’t your area of interest, I think you will find this episode valuable. There is a lot to learn from CEFLEX in terms of how to organize circular economy projects and get all actors from one sector involved, whether its material producers, manufacturers, end consumers and waste collectors. Get ready to be inspired to start your own initiative! Resources and links discussed in this episode can be found at gettinginthelooppodcast.com .

About Today’s Guest

Graham is the Managing Director of SLOOP Consulting B.V. which has been offering consulting services and tools in the field of packaging and sustainability since 2009. He is the founder & project co-ordinator for CEFLEX (a Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging), which is a collaborative initiative by over 150 companies and associations from across the flexible packaging value chain to make flexible packaging even more relevant in the circular economy. Prior to 2009, he worked for Unilever for 23 years with a wide range of responsibilities including: R&D, Packaging management and design, Supply chain restructuring, Sustainability and CSR.