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Hernan Saenz: Pernille, it is great to have you here. Excited to talk about Faerch. Tell me a little bit—Faerch invested in integrated recycling early, long before it was a clear regulatory mandate. In retrospect, why was that such a good decision? What does that allow you to do today?
Pernille Lind Olsen: Thanks for having me. We are producing high-quality food packaging material. We hate to see that material go to waste. We believe that waste and cost and carbon go hand in hand, so when waste leaves the system, it is costly, and it causes unnecessary emissions. Faerch saw that connection early on, and that's why we today are able to recycle and make a closed loop on the packaging at an industrial scale.
Hernan Saenz: You control your own material. This is a time in Europe when recyclers feel stressed because they don't have access to supply. Tell us a little bit about how you do it, and what that allows you to do that others can't do.
Pernille Lind Olsen: First of all, it is resilience when material markets are under pressure. It is also an amazing value proposition to our customers—we can provide them recycled content. And it gives us insight.
What we do: we design for recyclability when we design our products, we deliver recycled content, and then we are able to—we know what we are designing for at the very beginning. We are able to see the end of the cycle while we do the beginning of the cycle. That allows us to have a better insight into what is needed.
Hernan Saenz: If everyone was able to do what Faerch does, we would have a lot more recycled packaging—food packaging—in the world. We all hope for that. What are the barriers? What is keeping the world from doing this?
Pernille Lind Olsen: I actually think the main barrier is that we are all operating in a system that is not designed for closed loops. It is a systemic change. What do we need to do about it? We need to collaborate across the value chain and help each other see from the start to the end of that chain, and how it is a closed loop. Look for cost and carbon together in that value chain, and make sure we eliminate the waste on the way.
Hernan Saenz: I'd love to hear how holistic this is. I've heard you say our customers love it—the cost part, the resilience part, and of course the sustainability part. Thank you.
Pernille Lind Olsen: Thank you.