Plastic value chain giants pledge US$1.5bn investment in recycling infrastructure and plastic clean-up

16 Jan 2019 --- As the pressure to tackle mounting plastic waste continues, 30 companies have joined forces to launch the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW). Comprising companies from across the plastic value chain, including petrochemical companies ExxonMobil and Shell, consumer companies Dow and Procter and Gamble (P&G), as well as recycling companies Veolia and Suez, the alliance has pledged US$1.5 billion towards plastic recycling and clean-up efforts over the next five years.

Speaking during the live launch of the Alliance today, David Taylor, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Procter & Gamble and Chairman of the alliance, highlights the wide range of companies from across the plastic value chain as a key strength. This strength, according to Taylor, separates the AEPW from other groups looking to tackle plastic waste.

“The alliance brings recycling companies, such as Suez, together with companies, such as P&G, who are designing and creating packaging solutions.”

Suez's R&D teams are “working towards the dream” to fully optimize recycling, by making a “plastic water bottle from a plastic water bottle,” for example. Such R&D innovations regarding the recycling of polymers into quality plastic can be directly shared with companies in the supply chain to incorporate into their packaging designs, such as P&G.

“If we can incorporate packaging design as part of the solution, this will allow us to find holistic solutions which, in turn, allows us to find sustainable solutions,” notes Taylor.

The geographical reach of the alliance is wide.Overall, the AEPW pegs itself as bringing new insight to the plastic waste issue: an holistic and sustainable understanding of the value of plastic.

What are the first steps?
The alliance plans to make investments and drive progress in four core areas. It has pledged to commit US$1.5 billion towards plastic recycling and clean-up efforts over the next five years. 

• Infrastructure development to collect and manage waste and increase recycling.
  The alliance plans to partner with cities to design integrated waste management systems in large areas where infrastructure is lacking. The alliance will also be looking to collaborate with other programs working with cities, such as Project STOP, which is working in Indonesia.
• Innovation to advance and scale new technologies that make recycling and recovering plastics easier and create value from all post-use plastics.
  Creating a pipeline of projects for investment, with an initial focus on Southeast Asia, will be a priority. Funds will be given to The Incubator Network by Circulate Capital to develop technologies, business models and entrepreneurs that prevent ocean plastic waste and improve waste management and recycling.
• Education and engagement of governments, businesses and communities to mobilize action.
  Data collections to develop open source, science-based global information project to support waste management projects globally will be developed. These must have reliable data collection, metrics, standards and methodologies to help governments, companies and investors focus on and accelerate actions to stop plastic waste from entering the environment.
• Clean up of concentrated areas of plastic waste already in the environment, particularly the major conduits of waste, like rivers, that carry land-based plastic waste to the sea.
  Support will be given to programs such as Renew Oceans to aid localized investment and engagement. The program is designed to capture plastic waste before it reaches the ocean from the ten major rivers shown to carry the vast majority of land-based waste to the ocean. The initial work will support the Renew Ganga project, targeting river plastics in India, which has also received support from the National Geographic Society.

Responses to the alliance
As pressure to manage the mammoth amounts of plastic waste in the environment, high-profile commitments and single-use plastics bans have been commonplace. In the UK food industry, for example, the UK Plastics Pact consists of more than 40 business that have pledged to eradicate single-use plastics. While major players such as Coca-Cola, Nestlé and McDonalds – to name a few – have also committed to eradication goals. However, this alliance marks the first consisting of players across the plastics value chain. 

Yet, critics have noted that the alliance fails to address the industry’s massive scale-up of plastic production and the fact that recycling rates for plastic are plummeting across the US and world, comments NGO the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

“This announcement from industry is too little, too late,” says Dianna Cohen, CEO of Plastic Pollution Coalition. “Plastic production is slated to increase by 40 percent over the next decade. Recycling fails to address the problem, and single-use plastic is filling our waterways, oceans and the environment. These global companies must take action to reduce single-use plastic production. We need to turn off the faucet.”

“As Captain Charles Moore has frequently said, without reduction, investment in recycling and clean-up is like bailing an overflowing bathtub with a teaspoon,” she adds.

However, research from the Ocean Conservancy shows that nearly 80 percent of plastic waste in the ocean begins as litter on land, the vast majority of which travels to the sea by rivers. One study estimated that over 90 percent of river-borne plastic in the ocean comes from ten major rivers around the world – eight in Asia, and two in Africa. Sixty percent of plastic waste in the ocean can be sourced to five countries in Southeast Asia.

In this way, collection and clean-up may also be vital to tackling the scourge of plastic waste.

Indeed, the lack of inclusion of such initiatives in many of the high-profile single-use plastics bans was flagged to PackagingInsights by Gordon Robertson, packaging expert and consultant.

“The virtue-signaling from companies such as Starbucks, Ikea and McDonald's continues with actions that will have no discernable impact on the quantity of plastics ending up in the oceans. It would be far more effective if these multinationals assisted in efforts to ensure that the ten rivers no longer discharged plastic marine debris,” says Robertson.

In response to groups who call for an end to plastic completely, Jim Fitterling, Chief Executive Officer at Dow, stated during the live launch of the Alliance today that, ultimately, “we all have one common goal. We want to create a better value for plastic and a circular economy. Regarding banning plastic, the sustainable value of plastics is actually undeniable.” 

The following companies are the founding members of the Alliance: BASF, Berry Global, Braskem, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, Clariant, Covestro, Dow, DSM, ExxonMobil, Formosa Plastics Corporation USA, Henkel, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, NOVA Chemicals, OxyChem, PolyOne, Procter & Gamble, Reliance Industries, SABIC, Sasol, SUEZ, Shell, SCG Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical, Total, Veolia and Versalis.

By Laxmi Haigh