Lefteris Arapakis Discusses How the Fishing Industry Contributes to Circular Economy

ESG Decoded is a podcast powered by ClimeCo to share updates related to business innovation and sustainability in a clear and actionable manner. Thank you to EarthUP, our sponsor for the month of September. EarthUP enables employers to crowdsource corporate emissions reductions from their employees. This bottom-up approach reduces costs for sustainability teams while de-risking a company's emissions reduction strategy. EarthUP’s mission is to make sustainability part of everyone's job so companies can meet their emission goals. Visit them at earthup.eco. In this episode, Kaitlyn Allen talks with Lefteris Arapakis, Co-Founder and Director of Enaleia, an organization with a vision to make the marine ecosystem sustainable. Lefteris won the United Nations European Young Champion of the Earth 2020 award and was named the Ambassador for the Mediterranean Coast by UNEP-MAP for 2021-2022. He is an Athens University of Economics and Business graduate, TEDx speaker, and an AshokaChangemaker - listed in 2020's Greek Forbes 30under30 List. Lefteris comes from a long line of Greek professional fishermen. During the Greek economic crisis, he co-founded Enaleia, an organization with a vision to make the marine ecosystem sustainable. Enaleia created the first school for professional fishing in Greece and two wide-scale plastic clean-ups, the Mediterranean Cleanup & Bahari Safi. Working with 1.600 fishers, they collected waste and integrated it into the circular economy. The Mediterranean Cleanup is one of Europe's Top 5 marine plastic clean-ups. Listen as Kaitlyn and Lefteris discuss this innovative business model positively impacting fishers and sowing into the circular economy. While fishing, many nets capture large amounts of plastic waste that is simply returned to the ocean. Enaleia shares ways to recycle plastic with little to no expended energy or CO2 emissions to counter the effects of plastic pollution. This plastic then becomes a myriad of products that are useful to consumers. Before the solutions presented by Enaleia, it was predicted that by 2050 there would be more plastic in the oceans than fish. Thanks to this thought leadership, that trajectory may be course correcting. Enjoy this episode! - Episode Resource Links UNEP’s Fishing for Plastic Washington Post Article:  Press Release w/ ClimeCo Verra - Make sure to subscribe to ESG Decoded on your favorite streaming platforms and our new YouTube Channel so that you’re notified of our vodcast episodes! Don’t forget to connect with us on our social media channels. Enjoy this episode! Interested in being a guest on the podcast? For consideration and scheduling, please fill out this form.