eXXpedition Archives - �鶹ԭ�� Australia & New Zealand News Center

How Business Can Drive Value From The Circular Economy

Rushenka Perera — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 22:52:56 +0000

On our most I caught up with ocean advocate, skipper, Co-Founder and Director of eXXpedition – Emily Penn. We discussed the vital work she and her organisation do in understanding product lifecycles and its role in creating a cleaner planet and ocean.

Emily has spent the last ten years exploring the ocean and seeing firsthand the effect of plastic pollution across the world. In 2014, she setup a project called , which is a series of all female voyagers – hence the double X – who sail the seas understanding plastic and toxic pollution.

“eXXpedition exists through many vital collaborations, whether it’s scientific partnerships or working with local NGOs in the countries we visit,” she explained. “There are also the businesses who support eXXpedition’s work and creating the change that we want to see in the world. Businesses supporting financially as sponsors towards the voyages to sea – taking 300 women around the world over the next couple years as part of the research into plastic and toxic pollution.”

eXXpedition has spent the past year working with �鶹ԭ�� to delve into product lifecycles and sustainability, particularly how to help people/businesses really navigate the hundreds of solutions that are out there, which led to the development of Shift.

“U��Բ� , we’ve set up a system on the that helps you navigate these hundreds of solutions,” Emily said. “It takes you on this journey asking what kind of action you want to take. Are you at the beginning of your journey where you just want to learn what’s going on, or are you looking to be leader in this space?

“It then asks you where you’re looking to make a difference – at home, with your kids, business supply chain, or government – there are a whole spectrum of places to start taking action. Then it asks your where you’re looking to make an impact on the sea-to-source spectrum.

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The key purpose of the Shift platform is to help people educate themselves and explore the solutions available. “To solve the problem long term, we need to ask tough questions to get to the source of the issue,” Emily adds. “It’s a tool designed for all sorts of people, but there’s a lot on there for businesses to really help effectively change their supply chain, how they do things, and how they operate.”

According to Emily, a vital reason why businesses should re-evaluate its processes and outputs is because consumers already expect sustainable options and legislation will inevitably follow. “What we need right now is innovation and to put some of these new products that do exist into action at scale,” she explained.

This leads to the notion of creating a circular economy, which Emily believes is about living and producing in circles, as seen in nature. “When you’re at school you learn about the water cycle, the carbon cycle, and everything in nature goes around in these endless circles where there’s no waste essentially is generated because one stage’s waste becomes the next stage’s resource.

“The idea of a is to think in that same mindset. If you can close the loop then we can avoid living how we live now, which is this very linear society where we take something, usually oil from the ground to make something like fuel or plastic, and then there’s a waste product at the end, like the plastic ends up in the ocean or landfill, or in the form of fuel it’s waste carbon dioxide that ends up in the atmosphere. We’re trying to close that linear system into a closed loop.”

Emily will be explores these ideas further in the (24th September) focused on sustainability. She’ll be discussing her work at sea and relationship with �鶹ԭ�� that led to the development of the Shift platform.

“The main takeaway is there’s not one solution to fix this plastics issue. The great news is that there are hundreds of things that we can do and so many of these solutions already exist and already available.”

“It’s just a case of us working out what we have within our power to start doing right now and to not be overwhelmed by the hundreds of solutions, but to say, ‘what’s my opportunity? What’s my role in tackling this issue?’ I really hope the Shift platform will help people answer those questions.”

To learn more about Effect 2020 as it goes digital over three weekly episodes or register for the event, .

Discover more about the work eXXpedition does in building more sustainable practices for a better planet by checking out our

This article originally published on .

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�鶹ԭ�� Partners with Ocean Activist Emily Penn to Help Solve the Plastic Pollution Crisis

Judith Magyar — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 01:15:09 +0000

As part of �鶹ԭ��’s vision for a cleaner ocean, recently announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the company is building a digital platform to support experts and advocates

�鶹ԭ�� is partnering with and the initiative co-founder, ocean advocate , to support its commitment to a cleaner ocean by 2030. Emily and her team have invited 300 women from all walks of life to sail 38,000 nautical miles in 30 stages. The women have one mission: to explore the science of — and solutions to — ocean plastic and become ambassadors to combat ocean pollution.

The need for ocean advocacy is greater than ever before. Research suggests there could be floating in our oceans than previously thought. But in truth, no one has a precise metric on the volume or impact of plastic polluting the oceans. Emily and team aim to raise greater awareness based on scientific data with the help of �鶹ԭ��.

“I’m incredibly excited to join forces with �鶹ԭ�� to improve the health of our ocean by bringing together the energy of our eXXpedition community and our scientific research with �鶹ԭ��’s innovative technologies,” said Emily. “Industry has a huge role to play in addressing the challenges our ocean faces. The most pressing problem is how to turn off the tap to plastic pollution, and the next years will be spent doing just that — trying to prevent plastic getting into the ocean in the first place. For us to do that, we need everybody on board and, in particular, we need businesses to come to the table and take a lead, as �鶹ԭ�� is doing.”

Plague of Plastic

To tackle the problem, businesses need to rapidly shift to single-use alternatives, move toward circular business models, invest in waste infrastructure, and ensure a better consumer experience.

The software giant will share data and insights from the eXXpedition voyages to provide customers, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments, and partners with the tools, insights, and solutions needed to eliminate waste, maximise resource productivity, and help raise awareness of the need to create a cleaner ocean for all. One step in that direction is the Plastics Cloud, a pilot program from �鶹ԭ�� that was launched last year to help reduce the waste of single-use plastics.

Building on that program, �鶹ԭ�� will support Emily and eXXpedition by creating a custom-built digital platform to educate people on actions they can take to reduce plastic waste in their local communities. Enabled by Ariba Network, the Plastics Cloud allows brands to connect with new recycled plastics and alternative supply sources. About globally is used in product packaging, but less than one-fifth of this plastic is recycled, creating serious environmental and human health problems.

Around $10 billion worth of packaging flows through Ariba Network annually. “Even a small portion of global spend on packaging redirected to pre-certified suppliers of recycled plastics and alternatives can have a tremendous impact on the environment,” says Stephen Jamieson, head of Sustainable Business Innovation for �鶹ԭ�� in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Paradise Lost

In one of her speeches, how she was hitching a ride from England to Australia on a sailing boat a few years ago when she and the crew were alarmed by thuds on the hull. They found themselves surrounded by countless pieces of plastic a thousand miles from land. “That didn’t make sense,” she says. “The closest people to us were in the space station in orbit above us, yet here was evidence of human life and waste in the most remote part of the planet.”

That journey sparked her mission to connect scientists and communicators with the ocean. Emily has experienced the challenges firsthand on visits to the Pacific, where islanders are struggling to catch fish because commercial vessels empty their waters and are also struggling to grow food because rising sea levels make land salty. “These people are now reliant on packaged food and drink, which comes all wrapped in plastic,” she says.

Besides the sight of plastic in the ocean, the worst thing for Emily was the knowledge that burning plastic releases chemicals that lead to cancer and disrupt human hormones.

Why Women

Women are still only , but that is not the only reason eXXpedition is taking an .

Historically, studies on the effects of chemicals on human health have focused on simply because they make up the majority of the workforce in areas where occupational hazards have been studied. As a result, research on female-specific diseases has had a low profile. This imbalance is becoming increasingly important as the incidences of non-communicable diseases, such as cancers, are increasing.

Emily had her blood tested for 35 chemicals and discovered she already has 29 in her body. This is alarming because phthalates, which are present in personal care products, cleaning products, fragrances and cosmetics, , and plastics and epoxy resins, which are found in food containers, have been found to in females.

Takes Problem Solvers

One of the 300 women joining Emily on a leg of the journey is Natasha Pergl, global sustainability lead for Innovation Services and Solutions at �鶹ԭ��. Natasha has never sailed before, but she will join the Galapagos-to-Easter Island Pacific leg of the all-women ocean voyage.

For Natasha, this is an opportunity of a lifetime. As a child, she was always curious. Historical expeditions fascinated her, and she was intrigued to find out how things work. As a born problem solver, she is confident the team can solve challenges like plastics, but only with the right knowledge and by working together. She understands that researchers and scientists like Emily need data in order to share insights with the business world and help impact changes further upstream.

Creating circular manufacturing and supply chain processes is one way to help solve the problem. Natasha plans to record her experiences and take part in the science on board. Mostly, she is looking forward to learning as much as she can from her fellow crew members, who include a fashion activist, a legal adviser to refugees, businesswomen, and artists.

After the eXXpedition trip, Natasha will share her insights with business leaders and NGOs and help shape the solutions and services being developed at �鶹ԭ��.

This article first appeared on the Global Sustainability News Centre.

The post �鶹ԭ�� Partners with Ocean Activist Emily Penn to Help Solve the Plastic Pollution Crisis appeared first on �鶹ԭ�� Australia & New Zealand News Center.