{"id":52814,"date":"2022-08-09T08:20:14","date_gmt":"2022-08-08T20:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=52814"},"modified":"2025-06-25T01:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T13:41:11","slug":"the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/","title":{"rendered":"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This spring, I taught a new undergraduate course in environmental sociology. Most of my students took the course because they were curious to see what their desire to live more sustainably had to do with sociology.<\/p>\n\n

By the third week \u2013 after a deep dive into the troubling connections between fossil capitalism<\/a> (the dependence of capitalism on fossil fuels), waste colonialism<\/a> (the unjust international trade and disposal of hazardous waste between countries) and environmental injustice<\/a> \u2013 a few students said glumly that they had thought the course would be more optimistic.<\/p>\n\n

During the fourth week, we explored the well-documented history of climate denial and deception<\/a> among fossil fuel companies, as well as the related \u201cdeceit and denial<\/a>\u201d tactics of the tobacco, lead and chemical industries. \u201cDo you think it\u2019s really true?\u201d one student asked me imploringly. \u201cDo you think that businesses are really that unsustainable and will never change?\u201d<\/p>\n\n

I hesitated. I wanted my students to consider complex environmental problems from a critical sociological perspective, but I didn\u2019t want to lead them down a pessimistic path. \u201cWell,\u201d I admitted, \u201cI did just write a book<\/a> about the plastics industry with the subtitle \u2018how corporations are fuelling the ecological crisis and what we can do about it\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s hard to avoid pessimism when you witness firsthand the obstinacy of socially and environmentally damaging industries. Early in 2019, I attended a plastics industry conference in the wake of the marine plastic crisis<\/a>, prompted by public outrage over viral images of marine wildlife choking on plastic<\/a>. The crisis prompted a swift response from plastic-related corporations, who attempted to frame the problem in terms of littering and waste rather than overproduction. \u201cWe need to get the image of plastic in the oceans out of the public\u2019s mind,\u201d exclaimed a corporate executive at the conference. \u201cWe need to make plastic fantastic again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Since the dramatic rise of plastic production across the world after the second world war<\/a>, petrochemical and plastics companies have fought to expand and protect their markets through creating demand for plastic products, denying toxic risks and shifting blame for pollution onto consumers. And despite increasing public awareness of (and regulations on) plastic pollution<\/a>, the global plastic crisis is only getting worse<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

My new book, Plastic Unlimited<\/a>, sheds light on the corporate roots of this crisis. In it, I address the concept of the \u201ccorporate playbook<\/a>\u201d used by big oil, big tobacco<\/a>, and, more recently, big plastic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Playbook tactics<\/h2>\n\n

The corporate playbook<\/a> often contains a common repertoire of strategies used by controversial industries to conceal or cast doubt on the harmful effects of their products. Champions of these strategies have been d\ubbed \u201cmerchants of doubt<\/a>\u201d and accused of offences from downplaying the health risks of smoking to funding climate change denial.<\/p>\n\n

As researcher David Michaels wrote in his expos\u00e9 Doubt is Their Product<\/a>, \u201cthe manipulation of science by the plastics industry was at least as flagrant and as self-serving as any other industry\u201d he had researched \u2013 including the tobacco industry. Michaels was referring to the vinyl chloride scandals<\/a> of the 1960s and 1970s, when leading chemical companies conspired to hide evidence about the toxic health effects of the vinyl chloride monomer on workers in chemical plants.<\/p>\n\n

Big industry\u2019s track record continues today. It has denied the toxic hazards<\/a> of myriad petrochemicals and plastic products, funded climate misinformation campaigns<\/a>, misled the public about the effectiveness of recycling<\/a>, and lobbied to thwart and delay<\/a> environmental regulations. During the pandemic, it also lobbied to promote single-use plastic bags as the \u201csanitary choice<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

Leading corporations also use offensive tactics, including directing attention to their role as so-called innovators in green tech. Take the circular economy<\/a>, for example. It sounds like a great idea to try to eliminate waste<\/a> by shifting from a linear \u201ctake-make-waste<\/a>\u201d economy to one in which existing materials are reused for as long as possible. But, crucially, no global or national policy visions of a circular economy for plastics go so far as to call for limiting plastic production<\/a> altogether.<\/p>\n\n

In fact, the plastics industry promotes the weakest form of the circular economy \u2013 recycling<\/a> \u2013 which means plastic production<\/a> can keep going, despite the reality<\/a> that most items going into a recycling bin will end up being burned or dumped.<\/p>\n\n

What\u2019s more, recycling uses a lot of energy. Chemical recycling<\/a>, for instance, involves returning plastics to their original molecular states to be used again. Although it\u2019s promoted as a solution to the plastic crisis, it\u2019s a toxic, carbon-intensive process that\u2019s effectively the same as incineration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Here\u2019s some good news: in March 2022, the UN Environment Assembly<\/a> in Nairobi agreed on a mandate for a new global treaty<\/a> to address the crisis<\/a>. This was a landmark achievement towards creating legally binding measures<\/a> to prevent toxic plastic pollution.<\/p>\n\n

Many scientists, activists and organisations insist that any resulting treaty must include a cap on plastic production<\/a>. The negotiations will be challenging, however, given businesses\u2019 vested interests<\/a> in keeping regulations focused on waste rather than production. Now, it\u2019s urgent that we push back against greenwashing and work toward a global mandate for limiting unsustainable plastic growth.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETITION: Ban NZ’s plastic waste exports\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sign on now to call for a ban on plastic waste exports from New Zealand<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n Take Action\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

This article\u00a0is a guest post and doesn’t necessarily represent the views of Greenpeace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This spring, I taught a new undergraduate course in environmental sociology. Most of my students took the course because they were curious to see what their desire to live more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[27],"p4-page-type":[6],"class_list":["post-52814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-plastics","p4-page-type-story"],"yoast_head":"\nThe plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This spring, I taught a new undergraduate course in environmental sociology. Most of my students took the course because they were curious to see what their desire to live more…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-08T20:20:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-24T13:41:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nick Young\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick Young\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Young\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cd74b3cb7be5f23213b8b83730534221\"},\"headline\":\"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-08T20:20:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-24T13:41:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/\"},\"wordCount\":886,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Plastics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Greenpeace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/\",\"name\":\"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-08T20:20:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-24T13:41:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cd74b3cb7be5f23213b8b83730534221\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Greenpeace volunteers collect plastic on a beach in Mull. Greenpeace has brought its ship the Beluga II on an expedition of scientific research around Scotland, sampling seawater for microplastics and documenting the impact of ocean plastic on some of the UK\u2019s most precious marine life.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\",\"name\":\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\",\"description\":\"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cd74b3cb7be5f23213b8b83730534221\",\"name\":\"Nick Young\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocJXAN_-aMrfD7T6ibEnGzjWzprHxw_WFoPiQQUe__I7aSNfu5_q=s96-c\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocJXAN_-aMrfD7T6ibEnGzjWzprHxw_WFoPiQQUe__I7aSNfu5_q=s96-c\",\"caption\":\"Nick Young\"},\"description\":\"I've been doing digital at Greenpeace since before Facebook. Now the head of communications at Greenpeace Aotearoa. Follow me on Bluesky or Threads\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org.nz\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/nyoung\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed","og_description":"This spring, I taught a new undergraduate course in environmental sociology. Most of my students took the course because they were curious to see what their desire to live more…","og_url":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/","og_site_name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz","article_published_time":"2022-08-08T20:20:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-24T13:41:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nick Young","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_site":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nick Young","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/"},"author":{"name":"Nick Young","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cd74b3cb7be5f23213b8b83730534221"},"headline":"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed","datePublished":"2022-08-08T20:20:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-24T13:41:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/"},"wordCount":886,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg","keywords":["Plastics"],"articleSection":["Greenpeace"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/","url":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/","name":"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-08T20:20:14+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-24T13:41:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cd74b3cb7be5f23213b8b83730534221"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2020\/09\/2ea7255e-gp0stqsr0.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Greenpeace volunteers collect plastic on a beach in Mull. Greenpeace has brought its ship the Beluga II on an expedition of scientific research around Scotland, sampling seawater for microplastics and documenting the impact of ocean plastic on some of the UK\u2019s most precious marine life."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/the-plastic-crisis-has-deep-corporate-roots-to-protect-our-planet-they-need-to-be-exposed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The plastic crisis has deep corporate roots: to protect our planet, they need to be\u00a0exposed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/","name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","description":"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/cd74b3cb7be5f23213b8b83730534221","name":"Nick Young","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocJXAN_-aMrfD7T6ibEnGzjWzprHxw_WFoPiQQUe__I7aSNfu5_q=s96-c","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocJXAN_-aMrfD7T6ibEnGzjWzprHxw_WFoPiQQUe__I7aSNfu5_q=s96-c","caption":"Nick Young"},"description":"I've been doing digital at Greenpeace since before Facebook. Now the head of communications at Greenpeace Aotearoa. Follow me on Bluesky or Threads","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org.nz"],"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/nyoung\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52814"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71536,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52814\/revisions\/71536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52814"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=52814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}