In this sixteenth post of my unconventional #zerowaste alternative to an advent calendar, I am focusing on people and organizations pushing for circularity and regeneration in #plastics and #packaging. I can recommend looking into their work and following them here on LinkedIn.

61) Connor Bryant and Jack Schneider co-founded Rubbish Ideas. The circular economy design consultancy works to transform how businesses approach their products, packaging, business strategies, and supply chains. Using design thinking, Rubbish Ideas helps businesses transition from linear to circular practices. Through The Rubbish Project, Connor and Jack are pushing for closed-loop recycling in the events industry. Through the joint venture, Rubbish Reusables, they are working to replace single-use packaging and make circular and reusable packaging the norm. Their consultancy also runs an online tracking platform called "The Rubbish Portal" to help businesses to better measure, report, and reduce their environmental footprints.

62) Lorna Rutto founded EcoPost Ltd. Through Ecopost, Lorna works to combat climate change, chronic unemployment, deforestation, and plastic pollution. Ecopost has upcycled 13 million kilograms of plastic waste into materials that can be used for basins, buildings, fencing, household items, outdoor furniture, signage, and water tanks. The social enterprise has also created over 100 direct and 12 000 indirect jobs – predominantly for unemployed youth and women in Kenya – in the process.

63) Maria Westerbos founded the Plastic Soup Foundation and co-founded the Plastic Health Council. The Plastic Soup Foundation does not focus on recycling, but instead it works to completely remove plastic from food, water, and air. Through its first campaign called “Beat the Microbead”, the foundation pushed for a change in the use of microplastics by businesses, governments, consumers, and NGOs. Building on from this, The Plastic Health Council works to make sure the voices of expert scientists are heard in the context of negotiations on the UN Global Plastics Treaty.

64) Olga Kachook works at GreenBlue Org, where she leads the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC). In this capacity, she supports over 600 members from businesses, educational institutions, organizations, and government agencies in their journeys to find more sustainable forms of packaging. Olga works to accelerate the use of bioplastics, compostable packaging, as well as reusable and refillable packaging. Her work touches on innovation, policy, packaging design, and recovery. She is also passionate about using better packaging design and technologies to tackle food waste.

🔔 Stay tuned to to see the whole list of 100 people and organizations to follow unfold on LinkedIn, our blog, and our app.