Reaching the Post-Plastic Age for True Sustainability
Plastics are made from fossil fuels, and in every step in a piece of plastic’s life cycle, from creation to destruction, it negatively impacts Earth’s climate. And yet, more and more plastics are being produced every day. We can no longer afford to ignore the connection between plastic and climate change.
Untangling Plastics is a comprehensive investigation of the manufacturing, use, and disposal of plastics and their impacts on the health of the environment and human beings. Author Bob Gedert pulls from current research and his forty-five-year career in the recycling industry to reveal that we cannot recycle our way out of the plastics pollution crisis. He instead offers real solutions for how we can adopt greener ways of living and phase out plastics.
Our planet has already been irreversibly damaged by the impact of plastics, and we will never successfully limit climate change if we can’t untangle ourselves from the creeping web of plastics.
Bob Gedert is a Cincinnati-based recycling consultant with forty-five years of experience in guiding communities toward sustainable materials management through a systems approach, bridging recycling best practices and sustainability toward local circular economies. He has experience in building local economic development practices with zero-waste goals through private-public partnerships that utilize local markets for recyclables through innovative entrepreneurship and collaborative business networks.
Previously, Bob served as department director of Austin Resource Recovery, leading the city toward zero-waste goals. In addition to his tenure at Austin, he has served in the leadership of resource recovery in many communities including the city of Fresno, California, as chief of recycling operations; the counties of Auglaize and Highland in Ohio; the city of Cincinnati, Ohio; and communities across Indiana as chief of source reduction and recycling with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Bob is the former president of the National Recycling Coalition and previously served on the board of directors for the Indiana Recycling Coalition and the Association of Ohio Recyclers. He was also the executive director of the California Resource Recovery Association and a founding member of the California Product Stewardship Council and the National Stewardship Action Council.
In 2019, Bob was awarded the Lifetime Recycling Achievement Award from the National Recycling Coalition. In 2024, Bob was selected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who for Expertise in Education and Waste Management.
Bob is an adjunct professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, teaching climate change. He is married to his college sweetheart, Kathy. His greatest pleasure in life is watching his three children and two grandchildren make a difference in their communities. He enjoys walking in the local parks with his wife.
