Crystal Bayliss, director of strategy and engagement, US Plastics Pact | Notable Leaders in Sustainability 2024 | Plastics News

Oct 14, 2024

Find the other 2024 Notable Leaders in Sustainability here.

Crystal Bayliss sees her career path as helping industry "urgently do the hard work" to make plastics more environmentally sustainable.

Bayliss, the director of strategy and engagement at the U.S. Plastics Pact, spends her days working on initiatives to improve plastic product design, increase recycling rates and use more recycled content in packaging.

But her professional journey didn't start out with that focus.

She began in plastics procurement for a rigid packaging maker, fascinated by the precision in the manufacturing processes but concerned about the waste she saw.

When she was passed over for a promotion, it made her realize that her passion was working on environmental sustainability.

"I was passed over for a promotion that was I was very much qualified for. It really frustrated me for a variety of reasons," she said. "Ultimately though, it made me reevaluate my life choices and realize that my heart was no longer in what I was doing. It was a turning point in my career that helped me begin to see that my passion lay in full-time sustainability work."

Today, Bayliss works at the pact to help companies move into more recycling-friendly materials, like overseeing initiatives to help them switch from multilayer film packaging to monomaterial structures that can be recycled.

She said the work has given her the perspective that the plastics industry must change.

"Plastics do not have a future unless it is environmentally sustainable," Bayliss said. "Concern for the environment grows with each generation. Public backlash against plastic continues to grow — some of it grounded in truth, some of it grounded in incorrect perception.

"The plastics industry must recognize both the threat and opportunity and urgently do the hard work to move toward circularity," she said.

Bayliss said plastics have advantages — lightweight and a low carbon footprint, extending shelf life of products and low cost — but those benefits don't assuage public concerns.

"Until the industry solves the end-of-life challenges, the backlash will continue," Bayliss said.

Plastics companies must make environmental sustainability a baseline condition of business, she said.

"Circularity needs to be embraced as a fundamental aspect of plastic, just as important as functionality and cost effectiveness," she said. "This is a moment that the plastics industry really needs to lean in on the challenges. It needs to look at sustainability not as a competitive advantage that can be used to grow sales but as a fundamental key to the long-term viability of the industry."

Growing consumer concern means companies need to rethink packaging design with the idea that the materials they select for packaging will be coming back to them and be reused and recycled in a circular loop, she said.

"It's no longer enough to lead with a message that some plastic is recycled," Bayliss said. "It's time to make the hard decisions needed so that all packaging is designed to be recycled and adequate infrastructure is put in place to collect and recycle it. Companies need to design with the idea that they are creating the feedstock for their future materials, and then use PCR [post-consumer recycled materials] in their packaging."

She said she's seeing some positive change, such as improved functionality of polyethylene film.

"It has taken so much innovation and investment, but there are now awesome solutions that work in applications we didn't think possible back in 2019 when everyone was making reusable, recyclable or compostable design commitments," he said.

Early moments in her career, including a depressing vision of the future for some plastic products she saw being made, pushed her toward the sustainability professional path, she said.

"The first time I visited one of my plastic suppliers, I was fascinated at seeing the precision with which the parts were molded," Bayliss said. "But at the end of the production line, I saw one day's worth of production at one facility and realized that most of it was going to the landfill because of low recycling rates. That moment stuck with me and started my passion for creating a circular economy."

Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

Please enter a valid email address.

Please enter your email address.

Please verify captcha.

Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.