Speaker Interview: Adam Wozniak, AMCO Polymers
Tuesday, October 10, 2023 by Karla Stock

In our latest speaker interview, we had the pleasure of speaking with Adam Wozniak, Sr. Manager of Sustainability for AMCO Polymers. 

Adam's key areas of focus are directing and developing sustainability initiatives within the organization and working to align sustainability developments with their supplier partners.  The vast majority of his time is spent educating brand owners, specifying converters and customers about AMCO's sustainability initiatives and the differences between all the sustainable technologies. Once a basic understanding of the varying types of sustainable materials that are developed from PCR, PIR, Bio-Attributed Mass Balanced and Advanced Molecular Recycling is established, AMCO can begin to empower their customers into a transformative mindset that allows us to build a customized pathway to sustainable design that delivers specific, measurable, attainable and relevant gains to the brand owner and enhances their core competencies.

 

 

What are the biggest challenges facing the market today, and how can this be overcome? 

Today, the plastics industry is challenged with meeting sustainable demands created by legislation and consumers.  Currently, we face a limited supply of sustainable materials that can be implemented into existing applications without sacrificing color, regulatory compliance, cost-effectiveness and processability. This can be overcome by utilization of all categories of sustainable technologies, and in some cases by combining them all into your existing product design.  In doing so, we will extend the limited supplies that are currently available and allow for continued investment to catch up to the market demands.
Legislation must incorporate brand owners, plastic producers, plastic converters and integrate consumer participation.  With this, there will be greater acceptance and participation that will lead to improved infrastructure and capital investment to promote enhanced economies of scale. Sustainability requires collaboration on all levels, otherwise it fails to meet social, economic, and environmental goals for the greater good of all-global inhabitants.

 


In your opinion, what do you consider to be the greatest development in your industry in the last decade?  

This is a very hard question to answer because we have had so many advancements in sustainability within the past year, let alone 10 years.  Nonetheless...what brings great excitement, is that today there is virtually no application in which we cannot provide a sustainable solution.  Advancements and joint ventures are bringing forward improved availability of natural, regulatory compliant post-consumer packaging materials is significant, along with breakthroughs in Bio-attributed and Advanced Molecular Recycled materials. Both the Bio-Attributed and Advanced Molecular Recycled pathways allow engineers to design without sacrificing color and physical properties while remaining compliant to regulations for all industries from aerospace to healthcare.

 


How do you see the sector developing in the next five to ten years?   

Sustainable materials will continue to grow and advance markedly over the next to 5 to ten years, with producers ramping up production to double volumes within the next year and increase sustainable material production from Tens of Millions of pounds to Hundreds of Millions and potentially billions of pounds by 2030.  

 


You will be speaking at the AMI Plastics World Expos in North America, could you give us a preview on what you will be talking about?   

I will be participating in the industry debate "Plastics in packaging: environmental challenge or environmental solution". I strongly believe that plastics in packaging is an environmental solution.  This is supported by measurable data that shows that recycling works and with the advancement of circular advanced recycling technologies we can greatly reduce global emissions. The challenge that lies ahead is acceptance and understanding of the technologies and empowering a transformative pathway to sustainable design.

 

Adam Wozniak will be speaking at the AMI Plastics World Expos in North America.