The challenge of leveraging the advantages of plastic without contributing to the world's environmental crisis is formidable. However, it opens an opportunity to address sustainability at a systemic level through circularity and encourage innovation and integration along the plastics value chain.

Please join the Environment and Natural Resources Program for our Global Energy Transition Talk about the future of sustainable plastics. Nicola De Blasio, Senior Fellow at ENRP, and Phoebe Fallon, Harvard College student, present the findings of their report, "Avoiding a Plastic Pandemic: The Future of Sustainability in a Post COVID-19 World." Blake Bextine, Program Manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Alessio Lorusso, founder and CEO of Roboze, serve as respondents.

Read the report "Avoiding a Plastic Pandemic": https://www.belfercenter.org/publicat...

Plastic has made our lives easier and safer in many ways, but it has also created a global environmental and sustainability crisis. To curb our addiction to plastic, the world had been waging a war against virgin plastic, but the pandemic has turned an enemy into a much-needed ally.

How can we leverage the advantages of plastic without contributing to the world’s environmental crisis? This dilemma poses a significant challenge, but also opens an opportunity to address sustainability at a systemic level through circularity and the transition to low-carbon alternatives to petroleum-based plastics.

Achieving a long-term sustainable future for plastic will require integration along the entire value chain, from design to reuse, together with the transition to a truly circular economy—where a product’s end-of-life is taken into consideration from the moment it is developed and resources are reused.

Blake Bextine joined the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a program manager in March 2016, and has served twice as acting deputy director of the Biological Technologies office. He is interested in novel approaches to addressing issues facing agricultural biotechnology and food security, including nucleic acid-based anti-pathogen/anti-pest strategies and insect and plant transformation strategies for rapid trait selection. Additionally, Bextine has focused on the climate conscious approaches to infrastructure development and waste elimination utilizing cutting-edge synthetic biology platforms. Dr. Bextine came to DARPA from the University of Texas at Tyler where he was a Professor of Biology and Assistant Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer. Prior to his arrival at UT Tyler, Bextine was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Riverside.

Alessio Lorusso is the founder and CEO of Roboze, which develops the most precise materials extrusion 3D printing tech for the most performing super polymers in the world. Lorusso built his first 3D printer when he was only 17 years old, inventing the beltless technology few years later. Roboze, which is headquartered in Italy and Texas (+100 employees), designs and manufactures the most accurate 3D printing technology in the world for high performance super polymers and composites.

Nicola De Blasio is a Senior Fellow leading Belfer Center research on energy technology innovation and the transition to a low carbon economy. With more than 25 years of global experience in the energy sector, Dr. De Blasio is an expert in navigating the challenges of strategic development and technology innovation toward sustainable commercial success, at scale. This coupled with his insight on the impact of an institution’s development and innovation activities on other facets of business strategy, such as environmental, social, operational, geopolitical, and governmental factors.

Phoebe Fallon is a Junior at Harvard University studying Environmental Science and Public Policy. She is particularly interested in system wide sustainability initiatives in the energy and waste management sectors. She is currently researching plastic, and its potential as a feedstock for hydrogen production. Fallon is the co-author of the white paper "Avoiding a Plastic Pandemic: The Future of Sustainability in a Post COVID-19 World" (2021), and a contributing author to the G20 report on Hydrogen, "Mission Hydrogen: Accelerating the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy" (2021).

For more information: https://www.belfercenter.org/index.ph...