SUBSTANCE 
Stories about the stuff that shapes our world.

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Latest Episode: Plastics - Part 2

Plastics are everywhere – but can they ever be truly sustainable? In this episode, host Joe Hanson asks how plastics fit into a circular economy – a system designed to minimize waste and maximize resource efficiency. From the familiar mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle to innovative strategies that go far beyond recycling, this conversation dives into what it takes to create a sustainable future for plastics and how waste can become a resource.

Talke Schaffrannek, Director of Circular Economy at BASF, emphasizes her role in driving BASF’s transformation toward circular solutions, leveraging the company’s innovative power and responsibility to change processes and resource intake.

Jabir Karat, founder of the recycling enterprise Green Worms in India, describes how he saw plastic waste as both a problem and an opportunity to create employment and reduce poverty whilst reducing waste. His efforts highlight the urgent need for infrastructure and innovative solutions to prevent valuable resources from ending up in landfills. At BASF Karat found an experienced partner for recycling shoe material. 

Discover why circularity is more than recycling and how innovative solutions can shape a greener and better future.

Listen now!

Our guest: Jabir Karat

Jabir Karat is a social entrepreneur committed to building a cleaner, more sustainable world through innovation in waste management and circular economy models. By working as a ragpicker after graduation, he gained firsthand experience of the challenges faced by informal waste workers. Jabir founded Green Worms Eco Solutions, a social enterprise that offers waste management services across rural and urban India. His work focuses on empowering marginalized communities, especially women, by creating dignified, green jobs that contribute to a zero-waste future.

Under his leadership, Green Worms has diverted thousands of tons of plastic waste from landfills and oceans, collaborating with local governments, private companies, and NGOs. His efforts have been recognized nationally and internationally, and he continues to be a voice for inclusive, ethical, and scalable waste solutions. Jabir is an Acumen India fellow, Gandhi Fellow, Climate Action Fellow and Jagriti Yatri. 

Prior to founding Green Worms, Jabir worked as a Gandhi Fellow in Mumbai Government Schools for two years. Jabir holds a master’s degree in Modern Indian History from Delhi University.

Our guest: Talke Schaffrannek

Talke Schaffrannek is Director of Circular Economy at BASF. Before, she worked in the areas of applied sustainability, business development in Asia, diversity and inclusion, and product management. In her spare time, Schaffrannek runs an association that works to empower women in Nigeria, among other things.

Our host: Joe Hanson, Ph.D. 

Joe Hanson is an internationally recognized science communicator. Before working in science media and education, he researched genetic engineering and cancer biology, obtaining a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Texas.

He is the creator, host, and head writer of Be Smart, a YouTube science education show with more than 5 million subscribers on YouTube.
Hanson has won Webby and Telly Awards and the Kavli Science Journalism Award for his work. 

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