Jacobo Porteiro, Director of the Sustainability Area at the University of Vigo: “The well-understood Circular Economy has to help us to seek synergies and thus prevent our activity, and others, from generating avoidable damage”
We speak with Jacobo Porteiro, Director of the Sustainability Area at the University of Vigo, 28 (reduce, recycle and reuse) has on the environment and his concern about certain little practices ethics such as the ‘Greenwashing’ where sustainability is merely fictitious.
At Ecoplas we actively collaborate with the University of Vigo due to the team’s high awareness of the impact of our activities on society, a fact for which we are strongly committed to research and innovation.
1- AS DIRECTOR OF THE SUSTAINABILITY AREA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIGO, WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE IN RECENT YEARS. WHAT ARE KEY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABILITY?
Sustainability is a very broad concept that needs to be narrowed down. The 2030 Agenda of the United Nations set a total of 17 objectives for Sustainable Development that cover aspects as broad as hunger, poverty, justice, peace … as well as other aspects more classically associated with sustainability such as non-polluting energy , sustainable industry, environmental protection, etc.
If we stick to the more classical interpretation of sustainability, especially in the environment in which ECOPLAS operates, I think we could limit ourselves to talking about raw materials, waste and the environmental impact of the processes. In this sense, one of the clearest indicators is the Carbon Footprint (HdC), which must be accompanied by indicators that mark us “upstream” and “downstream” the impact of the activity. As a whole, we could say that a 360º or global analysis must be done.
2- THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IS BASED ON THREE PILLARS: REDUCE, RECYCLE AND REUSE. ARE COMPANIES ALIGNING THE GOALS OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY WITH THE CLIMATE GOALS?
Exactly. Upstream is the impact that our demand for raw materials has on the environment and downstream is the impact of our products. As I was saying, to that we must add the impact of our productive activity itself.
The well-understood Circular Economy must help us to seek synergies and thus prevent our activity, or others, from generating avoidable damage. A maxim that must be applied is that there is no energy or raw material more sustainable than that which is avoided to consume. In other words, when we reduce the use of a material, recycle it or reuse it, we are using the most sustainable procedure possible. In this sense, the involvement of ECOPLAS with the Circular Economy and Sustainability is exemplary.
3- THE SMART NETS RANGE OF PRODUCTS REDUCE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF PRODUCTS AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT, THEREFORE, THEY CONTRIBUTE TO PRESERVING THE ECOSYSTEM. DO YOU THINK THAT ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY?
It is true that little by little the sustainability criteria are reaching all sectors and there is some pressure from consumers and public administrations to do so. Therefore, I would say that, today, even the companies most reluctant to analyze their impact and evaluate their sustainability are forced to do so.
The food industry, like other industries, has companies that have tackled their sustainability voluntarily and well ahead of the requirements, while others have done so more driven by circumstances, the market and legislation.
The biggest risk I see is that industries have ‘Greenwashing’ mechanisms available to them that can make this sustainability merely fictitious. Thus, certain companies, for example, simply choose to outsource their less sustainable activities. In this way their ‘sustainability account’ gets rid of a particularly harmful process and they can thus declare a great reduction in their environmental impact or their Carbon Footprint, when, in reality, as I said, the analysis’ upstream ‘and’ downstream ‘would show that there is no such reduction. In this sense, we lack reliable tools to avoid it.
Therefore, answering the question, of course they are implementing efficient solutions in the food industry. Surely not as many as would be possible if certain shortcuts and tricks were prevented. If all companies were forced to do their balance well and objectively declare the environmental impact of their activity, progress in sustainability would be much greater.
4- AT ECOPLAS, THE COMMITMENT TO INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY HAS MADE US TO MODIFY THE PRODUCTION SYSTEM USED IN THE SMART NETS WHERE WE INCLUDE PLANNING AND SEQUENCING SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTS AND OPTIMIZE THE LOGISTICS OF THEM. HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THESE MEASURES TO REDUCE FOOD WASTE AND GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS?
I am aware that ECOPLAS is very aware of the implications that its activity has on the environment and that this has led it to a very complete approach that addresses both its raw materials, its plant processes and finally the life of its products. In this sense, I can only congratulate ECOPLAS for its involvement in sustainability.
In fact, I know the ECOPLAS innovation first-hand and I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised and interested in following it closely. Both for the involvement of ECOPLAS and for the honesty with which it addresses sustainability. In fact, I hope to continue collaborating with your company in defining those robust and reliable sustainability indicators that we mentioned earlier.
I hope that ECOPLAS’ collaboration with the University of Vigo will serve as an example for many other companies