The Great Simplification #89 – Sian Sutherland: “Innovating the Business of Plastics”

In this episode, Nate is joined by Sian Sutherland, a leader in the movement towards reducing the overconsumption of plastic and its waste. The modern era is dependent on fossil fuels for many reasons – one of the most covertly ubiquitous ones being plastic. Every day we are surrounded by it – encasing our food, woven in the threads of our clothes, and even permeating into the water that we drink. How do we begin to break off this addiction to the convenience and utility of plastics? How does this connect to the larger implications of a society embedded in a linear, consumption-based system dependent on growth? What role can industry, governments, and individuals each play in creating structural shifts to reduce our reliance on plastic – and ultimately return to a slower, more circular way of life?

About Sian Sutherland

Sian Sutherland is the Co-founder of A Plastic Planet, one of the most recognized and respected organizations tackling the plastic crisis. More recently, she also co-founded PlasticFree, the first materials and systems solutions platform, empowering the 160m global creatives to design waste out at the source. Sian was awarded the Female Marketer of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, and British Inventor of the Year. In 2023 at the UN Plastics Treaty negotiations (INC2), in partnership with the Plastic Soup Foundation, A Plastic Planet launched the Plastic Health Council, bringing expert scientists to the negotiating process with the irrefutable proof of plastic chemicals’ impact on human health. Passionately pro-business and solutions-focused, Sian believes the plastic crisis gives mankind a rare gateway to change both materials and systems to create a different future for the next generations.

Listen to the podcast here and to previous episodes here.