A Billion Pounds Better: 4ocean’s Vision for the Future of Packaging

Episode notes

Welcome to the Sustainable Design Lab podcast by Veritiv. Hosted by Chris Bradley and Brodie Vander Dussen, this show is your go-to resource for cutting-edge insights into the world of sustainable packaging. Join us as we reimagine packaging innovation and turn every decision into a powerful act of sustainability. In this episode, Alex Schulze, Co-founder and CEO of 4ocean, shares how 4ocean’s mission connects to packing innovation, EPR, and the plastic neutrality model that’s helping brands take measurable action toward a cleaner planet. What You’ll Learn: The true scale of the ocean plastic problem Why making sustainability cool matters for driving behavior change at scale How to design packaging for worst-case scenarios Why consumers drive change faster than regulation Alex Schulze is the Co-founder and CEO of 4ocean, an organization dedicated to removing plastic and waste from oceans, rivers, and coastlines. Since 2017, 4ocean has recovered over 45 million pounds of plastic through a grassroots model that employs local fishermen and engages coastal communities in cleanup operations across multiple continents.