Conor Carlin

Vice President, Sustainability, SPE  & Managing Director, Illig LP

(North America)

Presentation Description:

Though many in the plastics industry are familiar with the overwhelming benefits that polymeric materials provide, the public has become highly skeptical. And rightly so – when you see clogged rivers and dead fish, what are people supposed to think? Let's rethink plastics among ourselves for a moment, at least in terms of how the public views it. By acknowledging the paradoxical nature of plastics' efficiency, we can perhaps take a more holistic approach to design that utilizes the full value of a material's properties while considering end-of-life implications. The nuances and complexities of modern plastics ensure that there are no easy answers. And though we have to make difficult choices, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Speaker Biography:

Conor Carlin is the Managing Director of ILLIG LP, the North American subsidiary of ILLIG Maschinenbau GmbH & Co., a German-based designer and manufacturer of thermoforming systems, tools and packaging. A member of SPE since 2000, he is editor of the publications of the SPE Thermoforming and Recycling Division. Carlin has contributed articles on plastics and sustainability to the international industry press in the United States, Europe, and Asia. In 2017, he was elected to the SPE Executive Board as Vice President of Marketing and Communications, and re-elected in 2020 as First Vice President of Sustainability. Carlin has degrees from Boston University (BA, International Relations / French) and the FW Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College (MBA).