Who Defended Plastics?

The plastics industry has a global turnover of around 1200 billions $ per year.

That’s approximately the combined annual defence / military budget of following countries: US, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, France, UK, Japan

It’s probably enough money to buy the Pentagon twice … and there would still be enough money left to pay for the campaign and get a US presidential candidate elected.

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So you may think … when the plastic industry was under fire by all these plastic bans, there was enough resources to defend the industry. Right?

Well no! It was a proper fiasco. One that even Wall Street hedge funds manager will remember for years!

The following phrases summarise the context: Plastic is undefendable. Nobody dares to stand up in front of NGOs.

I mean … seriously … 1200 billions $ … undefendable?

Plastics Hall of Fame

Let’s have a look at who defended plastics in public. The ranking is in chronological order.

To give you some context, the EU SUP Ban Directive was adopted in June 2019. Nobody intervened before the ban …

Here are the Plastic Champions

Jim Fitterling, CEO Dow (4/9/2019)
Michael Laurier, CEO Symphony Environmental (5/9/2019)
French Plastic Federation Manifesto (28/11/2019)
Luc-Éric Krief, VP French Plastic Federation (30/12/2019)
Michael Stephen, MD OPA (1/1/2020)
Christophe Doukhi de Boissoudy, CEO Novamont France (13/1/2020)
Martin Engelmann, MD German Plastic Packaging Federation (20/01/2020)

Conclusion

What do you notice?

An American CEO from an American Company is leading the ranking. Damn it! These Americans are good!

No Japanese company or CEO on the list.

One American, two brits, three Frenchies (2 people and one organisation) and one German.

The french Federation “La fédération de la plasturgie et des composites” is present in two places. They must be considered like the Champions of the Plastic federation.

Congratulations

Ladies and Gentlemen, let us congratulate Mr. Jim Fitterling.

Jim, you’ve made your marks. You were the first one to stand up. You weren’t afraid to defend your industry and company. You were courageous. You are a true American.

Let’s name Jim Fittering the Hero of the week or the month!