51风流is partnering with聽聽and the initiative co-founder, ocean advocate聽, to support its聽commitment to a cleaner ocean聽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 鈥� and solutions to 鈥� ocean plastic and become ambassadors to combat ocean pollution.

The need for ocean advocacy is greater than ever before. Research suggests there could be聽聽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 SAP.

鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly excited to join forces with 51风流to improve the health of our ocean by bringing together the energy of our eXXpedition community and our scientific research with SAP鈥檚 innovative technologies,鈥� said Emily. 鈥淚ndustry 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 鈥� 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 51风流is doing.鈥�

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 51风流that was launched last year to help reduce the waste of single-use plastics.

Building on that program, 51风流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聽聽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. 鈥淓ven 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,鈥� says Stephen Jamieson, head of Sustainable Business Innovation for 51风流in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Paradise Lost

In one of her speeches,聽聽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. 鈥淭hat didn鈥檛 make sense,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he 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.鈥�

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. 鈥淭hese people are now reliant on packaged food and drink, which comes all wrapped in plastic,鈥� 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聽, but that is not the only reason eXXpedition is taking an聽.

Historically, studies on the effects of chemicals on human health have focused on聽聽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,聽, and plastics and epoxy resins, which are found in food containers, have been found to聽聽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 SAP. 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 SAP.

This article first appeared on the Global SustainabilityNews Centre.聽

The post 51风流Partners with Ocean Activist Emily Penn to Help Solve the Plastic Pollution Crisis appeared first on 51风流Australia & New Zealand News Center.

Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin designed the plastic bag in 1959 as an alternative to paper bags, which were notorious at the time for driving deforestation.

The humble paper bag also required vast amounts of energy and water to produce, and was heavier than packaging alternatives, making for a more resource-intensive transportation journey.

While I feel a little pride for my fellow countryman鈥檚 efforts, it doesn鈥檛 change the fact plastic today is one of the biggest threats facing the world鈥檚 seas.

One of its most promising qualities, its durability, is also coming back to bite us. It is estimated it will take thousands of years for Australia鈥檚 plastic bags to decompose. But I am not writing this article to instil fear or shame in the everyday plastic user. Let鈥檚 face it, we鈥檇 all be guilty.

No matter how hard we try, we live in a world where plastic bags are produced at a rate of a trillion a year, and all manner of single-use plastic products are ubiquitous. Even when I bring my own cotton bag to the supermarket, I can鈥檛 shake the guilt when I remember that the entire fresh fruit aisle likely arrived from the warehouse shrink-wrapped in plastic that will never be reused.

While young people, like my countrywoman Greta Thunberg and Australia鈥檚 Plastic Free Boy, are proving themselves to be more politically, environmentally and socially active than any generation before them, the burden of responsibility for our planet鈥檚 sustainability should not be placed on their shoulders alone.

Individuals, governments and businesses must all play a part 鈥� and it鈥檚 the dramatic change that businesses can make that I want to explore.

The ripple effect of sustainable business practices cannot be underestimated. Environmentally conscious businesses may not be as headline-grabbing as a group of protesters or a controversial activist riling up national leaders, but a supply chain that saves plastic has far more of an impact than an individual鈥檚 buying decisions.

Sustainable business processes don鈥檛 make only ethical sense but also financial sense.

Consumers are more aware than ever of the power of their dollar. Research by Nielsen reveals that 66 per cent of consumers globally are willing to spend more on a product if it comes from a sustainable brand.

It鈥檚 easier than ever for corporations with big buying power to make more informed, environmentally conscious decisions.

Technology platforms and the digital business networks they provide create new-found visibility into supply chains, enabling businesses to evaluate trading partners more quickly and easily against specific data points, such as their approach towards plastic.

51风流Ariba is making a difference through its Plastics Cloud, a technology platform meant to help contribute to a cleaner ocean by 2030. Functioning as a digital marketplace, brands can connect with each other based on their supply or demand for recycled and alternative materials.

Plastics Cloud allows for sustainable suppliers to be found efficiently and for the flow of materials to be monitored better.

Having launched the second phase of Plastics Cloud, businesses are now able to create a more sustainable supply chain through a secondary materials marketplace that connects packaging and consumer product companies to new sources of recycled plastics and plastic alternatives.

Solutions such as these rely on technology, including machine learning, to compile information that can be used to forecast trends in plastics purchasing and recycling, enabling services to meet demand. These solutions are designed for circularity, where resources are reused, and suppliers can get rid of plastic materials they no longer need by sharing them with businesses that will make better use of them.

And by showcasing companies tackling the plastics problem, and funnelling procurement dollars into these businesses, it allows them to grow and reap the benefits of economies of scale.

Our world is only 9 per cent circular. Yet by trialling and refining circular business models, businesses will grow financially while reducing waste. Through sustainability technology and innovation, companies are forecast to unlock $4.5 trillion in economic growth, according to research by Accenture.

Rather than naming and shaming the organisations that don鈥檛 do their part, it鈥檚 time to start naming and faming the corporations that are changing the way they source their materials.

The opportunity for businesses to reshape the market for good, using technology and their buying power, has never been more accessible or so necessary.

Henrik Smedberg is regional vice-president at 51风流Ariba ANZ.

This article first appeared on

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