Small Changes Make Big Impacts
Aswe face an unprecedented environmental crisis, the need for sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. This series seeks to spotlight the innovative minds and passionate advocates who are leading the charge in environmental conservation and sustainable practices. We aim to explore the most effective strategies, breakthrough technologies, and transformative policies that are shaping a more sustainable future for our planet. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Justin Riney.
Justin Riney is passionate about the circular economy and growing the recycling of styrenics. He strives to change the narrative around plastics such as Polystyrene in the United States. He believes that if we follow the science, we will make the best sustainable decisions at both the corporate level and in our personal lives, which begins and ends with plastics.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Thanks for the opportunity to discuss my favorite topic, sustainability. I like to say that I am an “accidental plastics professional.” My undergraduate degree is in History and the plan at the time was to become a tenured professor at some prestigious university. I would never have imagined that I would be in the plastics industry or in a sustainability role today.
In my mid-twenties, I shifted my focus to business and earned my MBA. Coming out of that MBA program I fell into agricultural commodities prior to joining a major packaging company based in South Carolina. I was asked by leadership to take procurement responsibility for polymers early on in my tenure with the company and have been in multiple plastics roles and organizations since that time, now leading to my current and favorite role, working in sustainably for INEOS Styrolution.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
This really dovetails well with the previous question, When I accepted my first polymers purchasing role, I had responsibility for Polyethylene, Polypropylene, Polystyrene, Colorants and Additives. I had no prior knowledge what any of these materials were and did not really know what a polymer was.
I have always been curious and eager to learn, but I did have some level of apprehension when I took on that role. Luckily for me, I have been really blessed in my career to be surrounded by very intelligent, patient teammates that have consistently poured into my career, were extremely patient with me and have been integral in all my successes in this industry.
Through these experiences, I have learned to take every opportunity that is presented to me. Even if I did not believe I was capable., If it is being offered, someone at the organization believed in my ability to succeed in that opportunity. I have lived by that principle my entire career, and I believe that has led me to where I am today. Even if the risk ultimately fails, I will undoubtedly have been stretched by the experience and better for it in the long-run.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Curiosity and a voracious appetite for learning is the most important trait for being a solid leader in my opinion. When you are curious, you are driven to ask questions and lean on others to gain information. Like I mentioned earlier, I have been blessed to be supported by highly intelligent, successful people that graciously provided me with their time and a transfer of knowledge that supported my curiosity. It is even more important for me to maintain that curiosity today than it has ever been. When you are part of a team, there are diverse perspectives and areas of expertise in that group. The team will be most effective when each member feels truly empowered and that their opinions or beliefs are truly considered by their colleagues. Often, I find that the best solution comes from the combination of multiple different perspectives, so it truly is a best practice for success.
Adaptability is another trait that I think leads to success in all walks of life, not just in business. My way is not always the best way, so leaning on others’ expertise to come to the best possible solution is always the best way to approach any challenge. Being willing to change and be changed by the opinions and experiences of others will naturally lead to success. I think this also points back to the earlier conversation on taking on risks and new challenges.
Only speak when you believe what you have to say is additive to the group. Early on in my career, I felt the need to prove I belonged in my roles. I had some level of imposter syndrome, and candidly still do to some extent. That often led to me feel the need to add my “insight” in group settings or meetings. I have learned that these “insights” were not always necessary and could even be considered off-putting by those around me. When I am doing all the talking, it does not allow for other opinions or insights. I try to listen more than I speak, but that is still a challenge because I do love to talk.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
At INEOS Styrolution, we are working on several exciting projects globally that will increase the sustainability of our styrenic plastics materials. We have several high-profile customers that have committed to using bio-attributed feedstocks to reduce the need for fossil-derived materials in our production processes. These innovative products reduce our overall GHG emissions and support our customers in their efforts to reduce the scope 3 emissions of their products. We continue to see demand growth for these materials and are very excited about the future of this developing market.
We are also developing Post-Consumer-Recycled (PCR) content blends to reuse our products to create a truly circular economy. We are working with our customers to develop products specifically tailored to their applications by identifying and sourcing available PCR Polystyrene materials to blend with our traditional virgin products to deliver “drop-in” solutions for traditional fossil-based materials. We are thrilled with the progress we have made to date, but also understand we have work to do to continue to support our customers’ efforts to meet their sustainability commitments.
Could you describe a groundbreaking project or initiative you’ve been involved in that significantly contributed to sustainability?
Fatherhood probably was the single greatest motivator for my dedication to sustainability. I want to ensure that I positively impact the environment so that I am proud of the legacy that I leave to my daughters. Sustainability means different things to different people, but to me it is about balance. I would like to find an ecological balance in that the end-of-life issues of our products are important, but the rest of the product’s life cycle and overall impact is just as important. Plastics such as Polystyrene are the best option from a life-cycle-analysis perspective for our customer’s applications. Using plastics for these applications reduce the overall impact on the environment when compared with competing materials such as paper, glass, and metal.
We are not satisfied with the status quo and want to further improve the sustainability of our products by using bio-attributed and PCR feedstocks to further reduce GHG emissions. There is also no hiding from the plastic waste issue globally; consumers desire industry support to solve the problem. We want to be a large part of the solution to the plastic waste problem. We are actively working on projects to expand PS recycling globally to ensure more of our products are diverted from the landfill and made back into valuable products. This is good business and great for the environment.
Consumers falsely believe that Polystyrene is not recyclable, and that Expanded Polystyrene foam is a product that must be banned to save the environment. Far from it, our products are essential, safe, recyclable — a leading climate solution. Our products are chosen as the best solution by our customers in their applications based on their inherent characteristics. Polystyrene and Expanded Polystyrene foam require less material in the same application than alternative materials, in fact foamed polystyrene is more than 90% air, which allow our products to reduce plastic consumption and overall greenhouse gas emissions and polystyrene is recyclable. This is an essential point that I think consumers miss due to the industry’s inability to cut through in its messaging.
What emerging technologies or innovations do you believe hold the most promise for advancing sustainability and why?
One technology that has great promise to elevate sustainability and the current recycling system in the US will be the scaling of Advanced, or chemical, recycling technologies. These new facilities will allow for more packaging formats to be recycled than ever before, will be additive to the current recycling system, and focus on material formats that have lower recycling access and rates today. Items such as flexible plastic films, which have been difficult to recycle using current mechanical recycling technologies, will be ideal feedstocks. Many advanced recycling facilities will accept mixed waste plastics including Polystyrene (both rigid and foam). Allowing for these mixed waste bales of plastics would simplify sortation and collection of plastics at local Material Recovery Facilities without the need for expensive capital upgrades. The plastics industry is working to make recycling easier and more accessible for American consumers.
The products generated by these new facilities will allow for more inclusion of PCR content in food-contact applications. One of the biggest hurdles to PCR inclusion in food packaging today is the lack of FDA approved processing facilities for recycled materials and clean sources of recycled feedstocks. Advanced recycling will generate like-virgin feedstock so we could then produce new circular materials that maintain all the regulatory approvals of our traditional products. This can be a real game-changer for the industry.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet”?
1 . Consumer Education
Consumer education is the largest barrier to a cleaner planet from my perspective. Materials do not end up in the environment on their own, and we need to ensure that the global community understands the net impacts of their behaviors on the planet. It is important to understand that recycling is real and has a real impact on our planet. Faith in the recycling industry has been in decline for the last decade, which has led to a significant drop in participation especially among younger generations. Non-participation in recycling leads to more materials (and not just plastics) in our landfills or leaking into the environment; materials that we at INEOS Styrolution would love to keep within the circular economy.
Studies also show that consumers are confused as to what materials to place in their curbside bins for recycling. There is a good reason for that confusion as each municipality has different standards for which materials are accepted, sorted, and ultimately recycled. If we want consumers to participate, we need a harmonized system or community outreach detailing what is accepted locally. We need to make participation in recycling simple. An added benefit to this type of outreach would be a more efficient, cost-effective system that would lead to faster adoption of post-consumer-recycled (PCR) materials.
2 . Follow the Science
We need consumers to understand the impact of the materials consumed in the products they love. Ensuring proper disposal of the packaging is one important aspect of this, but it is just as important to review the entire life cycle of that product or packaging.
Plastics, such as the Polystyrene INEOS Styrolution produces, are used in the applications they are today because they are more cost-effective, lighter, and have a lower overall carbon footprint than competing materials like paper, glass, or metal. Studies show that plastics are the most environmentally responsible choice in over 90% of the applications reviewed. Moving away from plastics leads to higher GHG emissions globally and does not guarantee replacement materials will be recycled in those same formats or applications. If those alternative materials are not recycled, that would lead to a reciprocal increase in materials delivered to landfills as well.
While plastics such as Polystyrene are the best environmental choice in most cases, at INEOS Styrolution we are innovating to further reduce the impact of our products. Our team has been working on reducing our impact on the planet to reach Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 through targeted investments in green energy, process optimization, bio-based or bio-circular feedstocks to reduce fossil fuel consumption, and the reincorporation of post-consumer-recycled materials back into our products.
3 . Public and Private Partnerships
It is essential that private companies support local, state, and federal governments to drive real change in sustainability. The plastics industry is committed to increasing the circularity of our products and investing in new technologies to support those efforts Organizations like the Foodservice Packaging Institute’s Foam Recycling Coalition, which INEOS Styrolution supports, have been key players in increasing the recycling of expanded polystyrene foam in North America. This group provides grants for equipment that allows for programs like public drop-off of Polystyrene foam in a centralized location for recycling into new products. These efforts have been highly successful and proves that with the right partnerships, we can divert more material from landfills to expand to a truly circular economy.
There are many other examples of these types of efforts including The Flexible Film Recycling Alliance, and the Polystyrene industry’s efforts to grow access for its products with the Polystyrene Recycling Alliance.
Overall, we need more participation in, and the expansion of recycling infrastructure in the US. We need greater recycling access for all polymers and formats. As stated earlier, the future state of the recycling system in the US is a combination of traditional mechanical recycling and new advanced, or chemical, recycling technologies which will allow for more packaging formats to be recycled at scale. Hard to recycle formats like flexible plastic films will be excellent feedstocks for advanced recycling that are difficult to recycle using current mechanical recycling technologies. Many advanced recycling facilities will accept mixed waste plastics including Polystyrene (both rigid and foam), Polyethylene, and Polypropylene. Allowing for mixed waste bales of plastics to further simplify sortation and collection of plastics at local Material Recovery Facilities without the need for expensive capital upgrades. The plastics industry is working to make recycling easier for American consumers.
4 . Sensible Legislation
At INEOS Styrolution, we are very active in advocating for common sense legislation at both the state and federal levels, so we can be an active part of the solution to the plastic waste problem.
One topic in the legislative space that seems to be getting the most attention today is extended producer responsibility (EPR). Extended Producer Responsibility is a policy or set of regulations that would assign financial and or operational responsibility for the end-of-life disposal for the packaging products sold into that jurisdiction. In other words, if I am a global brand that sells a packaged food product into an EPR state, it is my responsibility to ensure that the infrastructure exists to properly recycle that package to divert it from landfill. These brand owners will pay a fee for each package sold into the state and the intent of those fees is to support infrastructure investments to increase recycling rates.
I would say that we generally support EPR legislation at the state level as a catalyst to improve recycling infrastructure. However, we need an equitable (not just plastics), harmonized system in the US to avoid compliance issues for our customers as they navigate multiple differing programs. We also cannot support any legislation that calls for production caps or bans on specific polymers, either explicitly or through unfeasible recycling rate targets. Polymer bans specifically will lead to multiple unintended consequences: increase in materials sent to landfills, increase GHG emissions, and higher costs to the consumer.
5 . Small Changes Make Big Impacts
We need to reduce waste in all forms globally and personal responsibility is key in that effort. According to the EPA, the per capita generation of municipal solid waste (trash) is nearly 5lbs per person per day. Food waste comprises an estimated 24% of municipal solid waste (MSW) in landfills in the United States, which then accounts for 58% of the methane emissions released to the atmosphere from landfills. Proper disposal of the food waste through personal composting is great way to reduce your personal impact. However, composting only avoids the end-of-life GHG emissions at the landfill and does not account for the carbon emissions generated in the production and transport of that food from the source to your refrigerator. If that food is then sent to landfill, we have created emissions without the net benefit to society, which compounds that waste.
Plastics are key in extending the shelf-life of meats, fruits, and vegetables. Expanded Polystyrene foam used to manufacture the meat trays you find at your local supermarket are an excellent solution to extend the shelf life of packaged meats. The thermal properties and the light weight of the material make it ideal for the transport of not only meat, but fruits, vegetables, and fish as well. Moving away from Expanded Polystyrene in these applications would increase GHG emissions, lead to higher spoilage rates for these products, as well as more packaging and food waste in our landfills.
In your view, what are the key steps individuals, communities, and governments need to take to achieve a more sustainable future?
I am going to go with the old-fashioned platitude of reduce, reuse, and recycle as there is a lot of truth in that messaging.
Whether you are an individual, a company, or a government agency we need to reduce our overall consumption and the daily waste we generate.
Reuse materials as that is a key to reducing your overall impact on the environment.
Recycling does work, and we need to do more of it globally. We also need to capture all the materials that have not traditionally been recycled at scale using new, innovative technologies like advanced recycling.
If we all do more of these three things, the world will be a much cleaner place.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
Please feel free to contact us INSTY.info@ineos.com. We would love the opportunity to share more with your readers.
You can also find me on Linkedin or follow the INEOS Styrolution Americas account on that platform as well to keep up-to-date with our efforts to become even more sustainable in the future.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you continued success.
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com .
