Alliance to End Plastic Waste adds members

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) has welcomed 12 additional companies from across the plastics value chain as members: Equate Petrochemical Co., Gemini Corp., Grupo Phoenix, Mondi, Novolex, PepsiCo, Sealed Air Corp., Sinopec, SKC Co. Ltd., Storopack, Tomra and Westlake Chemical Corp. The new members expand the group’s global footprint and the participation of companies across the plastics value chain seeking to develop and bring to scale solutions to help eliminate plastic waste in the environment.

"As leaders of companies that represent the full spectrum of the plastics value chain, we are acutely aware that plastic waste in our environment is a serious and growing problem, especially in our oceans,” said David Taylor, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, and Chairman of the AEPW, speaking earlier this week from the New York Stock Exchange. “This complex, global challenge requires a comprehensive approach across the plastics life cycle, and we are committed to bringing forth sustainable solutions.”

Launched in January 2019 with 27 founding members, the alliance now includes 39 companies around the world that make, use, sell, process, collect and recycle plastics. This includes chemical and plastic manufacturers, consumer goods companies, retailers, converters and waste management companies. Member companies have committed more than $1 billion to the organization, with the goal of investing $1.5 billion during the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development is a founding strategic partner.

By bringing together the entire plastics value chain, the AEPW says it will apply the expertise of each sector, the collective resources and reach of companies from around the world and insights from those that operate in the regions where the challenge is greatest.

AEPW members have developed a global vision and a strategy focusing on:

• infrastructure development to collect and manage waste and increase recycling, especially in developing countries where the need is greatest;
• innovation to advance and scale new technologies that minimize waste, make recycling and recovering plastics easier and create value from all postuse plastics;
• education and engagement of governments at all levels, businesses and communities to mobilize action; and,
• cleaning concentrated areas of plastic waste already in the environment, particularly major rivers that carry vast amounts of land-based plastic waste to the ocean.

"By advancing a globally coordinated effort focused on recovering, recycling, and reusing plastics, we will develop a global business model that creates value from waste, making it a resource rather than a throw-away," added Taylor. "By working together to implement solutions across continents, we can tackle this problem and continue to support the growing needs of a more prosperous and healthy world. Ending plastic waste takes a coordinated effort, and we are moving with urgency to meet the challenge."