“Grey is the New Green: Nuances at the Nexus of Plastics and Sustainability”

Plastics and sustainability: is this a contradiction in terms? Plastics are either the devil incarnate, the source of humanity's woes, an environmental scourge... or they are miracle materials, life-saving materials, inert, GHG-saving materials. We will explore this debate and attempt to find some common ground across competing narratives, impersonal algorithms, impending legislation and material science.

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Conor Carlin is the Managing Director of ILLIG North America LP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ILLIG Maschinenbau GmbH & Co. KG., a Germany-based designer and manufacturer of thermoforming, tooling, and packaging systems. Carlin has 20 years of international experience in packaging machinery, tooling, and advanced materials.

Carlin also serves as President of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) and is a contributing member of the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IOPP). In 2020 he was elected as the first VP of Sustainability for SPE and edits publications for their Thermoforming and Recycling Divisions.

Carlin has delivered papers and contributed articles on plastics and sustainability for international industry press in the US, Europe, and Asia. He is the co-author of “Plastics & Sustainability: Grey is the New Green” published by Scrivener/Wiley. Carlin holds a BA from Boston University (Boston, MA) and an MBA from the FW Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College (Wellesley, MA). He lives in the Greater Boston area with his wife and three children.