Businesses can do good and be profitable, Mike Biddle tells business leaders at ‘Future for Sustainability’ summit

Mike Biddle at the future for sustainability summit

Our founder, Mike Biddle, delivered a spellbinding speech at the ‘Future for Sustainability’ Summit in London this week, calling for businesses to ensure that delivering environmental and social value went hand in hand with generating a robust profit.

In his imitable style, Mike combined humour, plain talking and sharp business insights to create a compelling case for sustainability to take centre stage in companies’ business strategies, drawing on the example of MBA Polymers’ success in creating a thriving global business with sustainability at its core.

The summit, which was hosted by the Financial Times and Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), was attended by more than 200 people from a colourful cross-section of businesses and organisations. The overall theme of the day was exploring how businesses can prioritise the sustainability efforts that will create the highest value for both business and society.

Hosting the conference was John Brock, Chairman and CEO of CCE, who gave the opening keynote speech. He was joined by high profile business leaders and academics from organisations including Sainsbury’s, Kering, Veolia, L’Oréal and London Business School, as well as Harvard and Yale.

Through a series of dynamic panel sessions and presentations, these experts addressed a variety of themes such as how to engage the ‘millennial generation’, transforming social and environmental challenges into opportunities, and the importance of creating all-encompassing sustainability strategies. Later in the day, breakout groups tackled more practical questions, including ‘How can we rethink waste and consider it as a valuable resource’?

Mike wrapped up the conference with a presentation entitled ‘The new corporation: delivering economic and social value in the 21st century’. He focused on the challenge of generating business growth while contributing positively to society and respecting the environment. In particular, he explored the steps that businesses might take to achieve this balance and how sustainability will shape tomorrow’s successful organisations. He also looked ahead to the significant opportunities for increasing plastics recycling, based on MBA’s sound experience and sustainable polymer technology.

Mike finished by amusing the audience with a still of the film ‘The Graduate’, in which Mr. McGuire entreats Ben (Dustin Hoffman) with the famous line, “I want to say one word to you. Plastics! There’s a great future in plastics!”

For more information on how MBA Polymers transforms post-consumer plastic waste into valuable raw materials, please visit our website.

» View photos from the summit