Interview with Jonathan Sourintha, Co-Founder - Turn Green

Possible.

Too often sustainability is presented as a trade-off between planet and profit. My philosophy is the opposite: we can achieve sustainability, efficiency and true circularity at an economical scale for every industry. The key is simply to start. Once you begin the journey, with the right material, the right design and the right local supply chain, improvement comes surprisingly fast. At Turn Green we see this every day with brands that took the first step and are now scaling successfully.

The rapid rise of compostable packaging in emerging countries, combined with the accelerating shift toward biobased materials that will become mainstream in the next two years.

In markets like Vietnam and Southeast Asia, infrastructure for mechanical recycling is still limited, so compostable solutions that work with existing waste systems are gaining real traction. At the same time, brands are moving beyond "less plastic" to "better material", biobased polymers derived from local agricultural resources. This dual trend is not just environmental; it is becoming a competitive advantage for companies that act now.

Definitely a game changer.

AI is already helping our clients understand complex material options in minutes instead of weeks, improving communication between R&D, marketing and sustainability teams, and dramatically speeding up the development of new solutions. From predicting end-of-life performance to optimising formulations and even generating clearer sustainability claims, AI removes friction and accelerates the transition. The companies that treat it as a real tool rather than a buzzword will move much faster than the rest.

The adoption of truly sustainable packaging is no longer a "nice-to-have". It is a business survival necessity: if you do not start transitioning now, your company will eventually be left behind by regulation, customers and the market itself.

Nature.

She has perfected the art of protecting what is important with the least amount of waste and the most elegant solutions. Whether it is a banana leaf, a seed pod or the way trees manage their own "packaging," nature constantly reminds us that high performance and complete circularity can coexist. Every time we develop a new material at Turn Green, we go back to nature for both inspiration and validation.

AquaFlex, Vietnam's first fully home-grown water-soluble biopolymer technology. AquaFlex is a PVA/PVOH-based material that dissolves completely in water, is marine-safe (certified biodegradable in both fresh and salt water), compostable, recyclable, and leaves zero microplastics. It is one of the very few grades in the world that combines all these end-of-life performances while offering higher strength than conventional plastic, full transparency, and a 3-year shelf life. What makes me especially proud is that we didn't just import a technology, we developed and industrialised it entirely in Vietnam through PVA PRO, creating a fully vertically integrated value chain: from proprietary resin formulation all the way to finished films, bags and paper coatings. This project also includes years of advocacy with authorities and industry associations to raise awareness and help shape better regulations around truly circular materials. Seeing a 100% Made-in-Vietnam innovation that can compete globally, protect the oceans, and support Vietnam's transition to a circular economy is, for me, the most rewarding achievement so far.

Biobased materials made from agro-waste.

Everyone talks about recycling rates and compostability certifications, but the real quiet revolution is turning agricultural residues — cassava, rice husks, sugarcane bagasse, etc. — into high-performance packaging materials. These solutions reduce pressure on food crops, create new income streams for farmers, and close the loop at a local level. They are still under-appreciated, yet they hold enormous potential for emerging markets.

Stay rigorously organised… then simply decide "let's do it" and execute without overthinking.

Early rise, news, exercise.

PepsiCo.

Working with a global leader that has both the scale and the genuine ambition to transform its packaging footprint would be the ultimate opportunity to prove that high-performance, fully circular solutions can work at massive volumes and to accelerate the transition far beyond what any single company can achieve alone.

By 2030, packaging will be predominantly biobased, biodegradable or made from waste streams, designed from the start for real circularity rather than as an afterthought.

Before you design any solution, take the time to deeply understand the real problem of your client, their technical constraints, their cost pressures, their brand story and their waste-management reality. Only then can you create packaging that is not only sustainable on paper, but actually adopted and scaled in the real world.