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Venetia Spencer: “The plastics industry is driven by engineering and chemistry, both subjects that young women have tended not to study in the past.”

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In the latest instalment of our series collaborating with the Women in Plastics initiative, in which BP&R shines a spotlight on one of the platform’s inspirational interviewees, we share a conversation with Venetia Spencer, Secretary General of the Polyolefin Circular Economy Platform.

Q: Could you tell me about your background and how you got to your current role?

Benjamin Brolet

I have a degree in physics from Imperial College, London, which led me to taking an interest in science-based policymaking in Europe, then, later still, how to communicate those policies.

I started my career in Brussels as an assistant to a Member of the European Parliament, then went on to become a public affairs consultant at the global agency Ogilvy.

I have always been passionate about the environment. Working in Brussels, I quickly became an environmental policy geek and would probably have been just as happy working for an environmental NGO.

I then spent 10 years at the global communications firm BCW (formerly Burson-Marsteller), where I was head of a team of environment and energy consultants. In that role, I was working both with big-picture policy issues, as well as with the technical details of European and international environmental, standardisation, product and waste policies. I was advising companies, civil society, EU institutions and trade associations on how to identify solutions to their environmental challenges, as well as how to engage with each other and successfully communicate their stories.

I joined PCEP because I feel very strongly about meeting the challenge of transforming the plastics industry into a circular economy. Polyolefins are amazing, highly versatile materials. They are the most widely used family of plastics and, importantly, they are fully recyclable. So PCEP’s (and my) mission is to make sure that these valuable materials actually do end up being reused or recycled – and at the same time, we need to create and build a market for that recycled material.

PCEP is 100 per cent committed to that goal and, for me, it’s incredibly exciting being at the forefront of helping to drive the PO value chain forward on this journey towards circularity.

Q: How have you found settling into your new role?

Setting up any international organisation, with such a wide variety of stakeholders, inevitably takes a huge amount of time and energy. Each member organisation has a different set of priorities and getting everyone pulling in the same direction was my first priority.

With PO accounting for 50 per cent of plastics consumed and 70 per cent of the plastic packaging market in Europe today, PCEP is the embodiment of the industry’s collective commitment to take responsibility for our products and advance the circular economy.

So, the important thing for me is that, in 2021, we are now well established and moving forward together fast.

I am very excited that we have now expanded into a team of three women – and we have also just appointed our first woman onto the Steering Board.

Rebecca Colley-Jones is our Circular Economy Project Manager, driving forward the work of PCEP’s working groups for innovation, enhancing collection and sorting and developing end markets for recycled polyolefins. Before joining PCEP, Rebecca was a senior researcher at the University of Northampton working on the EU’s Horizon2020 project PolyCE (increasing the use of high value post-consumer recycled polymers within the EEE sector). She’s also completing a doctorate in circular economy business practices, as well as running her own environmental management consultancy.

And Petya Todorova is our Circular Economy Advocacy and Communications Manager, who’s responsible for the three working groups on communicating the vision and progress towards a circular polyolefin economy, advocating for a supportive policy framework and establishing the data to demonstrate progress. Previously, Petya was working for the global speciality chemical and plastics group Krehalon, overseeing strategic communications and circular economy policy activity for all European markets and Oceania

Previously, success was a happy client. Now, success is measured in terms of transforming an entire industry.

Finally, Ornella Cosomati, who is responsible for EU public policy, government affairs and communications at PepsiCo, is the most recent recruit onto our Steering Board, bringing with her a wealth of experience in environmental legislation.

Q: What does a typical day consist of in your role?

PCEP is all about action, not just words. We have made firm voluntary commitments, with clear, ambitious targets and deadlines to achieve them. To get to our goals, we have established six working groups to identify barriers to a circular economy and deliver solutions to overcome them. They are:

My primary job is to coordinate these different workstreams and projects, supported by my team and with various degrees of direct involvement in the work of each group.

However, PCEP simply can’t achieve its goals without everyone in the PO value chain being on board and working together. An equally important part of my role, therefore, is to ensure that the relevant players in the value chain have heard about PCEP – and then that they are encouraged to join. I spend significant amounts of time speaking in conferences, seminars and other public forums. I then meet up with potential new members, encouraging them to be part of our collective transformation into a circular PO economy.

 "I joined PCEP because I feel very strongly about meeting the challenge of transforming the plastics industry into a circular economy.”

Q: Have you found the plastics industry to be a lot different from previous industries you have worked in?

Before starting this job, I had never worked in an industrial sector before, so it’s hard for me to say whether the plastics industry is very different from others.

However, the two years since I joined PCEP has been transformational for me in terms of the job I do. Previously, I was part of a global network of thousands of consultants, all supporting each other to help clients manage and communicate their various challenges. Now, I’m responsible for managing the challenge itself, with a small secretariat to support me, and having to coordinate people from across a whole multitude of different companies and European institutions.

Previously, success was a happy client. Now, success is measured in terms of transforming an entire industry.

Q: What has been your biggest highlight so far in your current role? 

Obviously, this year has been dominated by the global Coronavirus pandemic. Despite the enormous human tragedy and economic crisis resulting from the Covid pandemic, across the PCEP membership the commitment to the circular economy as the correct long-term strategic evolution of this industry has remained unwavering.

The focus is still absolutely there and this continuing willingness among our members to work together and innovate together is already a huge shift in our industry – and it’s been hugely encouraging.

This global crisis could so easily have forced companies to divert their attention away from what is already a challenging and, in the short term at least, potentially expensive transformation. But it hasn’t. And that gives me tremendous hope – and, curious as it may seem, this has been at least one of my biggest highlights in the job so far.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you have faced so far in your current role?

The negative image of plastic due to pollution is potentially an existential threat to the PO industry going forward. But it can also be the catalyst that drives the industry to achieve its own sustainability.

Responding to public pressure, legislators around the world are implementing measures that will significantly impact the plastics industry. In Europe, this includes the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), part of the overarching European Green Deal. Other legislation on the horizon includes the implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive; the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, new measurement points for plastics recycling targets; new EU waste legislation; and the revision of EU rules on food contact materials.

That is a host of EU legislation coming down the track – and it is certainly a huge challenge to keep abreast of it all and ensure that the PO industry stays ahead of it.

Q: What is your opinion on gender roles in the plastics industry?

As a young woman studying physics at Imperial College, you can imagine that I was in a distinct minority. The plastics industry is driven by engineering and chemistry, both subjects that young women have tended not to study in the past.

But this has been changing quite fast in the past decade or so, driven in part by government initiatives encouraging more women to study STEM subjects, as well as by some inspirational women role models achieving amazing things in science and engineering.

This is a time of profound change throughout the plastics industry, driven by significant global economic and environmental challenges. I very much hope that this root-and-branch transformation of our industry is not only about how it works, but also who works in it.

I’m absolutely delighted, of course, that PCEP is leading the way in this industry gender transformation.

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