Plastic is ubiquitous in today's society. A great amount of plastic is specifically flowing into the packaging industry. However, economic and technical limitations cause most plastic packaging to have a linear and unsustainable life, often characterized by a very short use phase.

The plastic waste challenge demands immediate action. At the Alliance, this is exactly the mission: working with member companies to drive action on the ground. Together, members identify the most promising projects for addressing plastic waste and invest hundreds of millions of dollars into these opportunities. The Alliance goal, always, is to demonstrate and de-risk new ideas that are economically self-sustaining and can be scaled and replicated by others. Projects range from improving the efficiency of waste collection systems to ramping up recycling capacity, and from developing consumer re-use business models to improving the purity of plastic waste feedstock streams. Through this work, the Alliance is building a future in which business and society can use plastic sustainably.

THE APPROACH

Three key drivers enable the Alliance mission and allow it to deliver tangible results:

1. Developing, deploying, and scaling solutions: Within the Alliance’s ecosystem of members and partners resides the knowledge, resources and experience that allow the best ideas to be developed and deployed at scale around the world. The alliance taps on this for funding and expertise to drive the development of new initiatives and reduce risk.

2. Engaging communities: For the impact of solutions to end plastic waste to be maximised, communities need to embrace them. The Alliance provides both the education and resources to help secure the necessary buy-in and behavioural changes. It also creates platforms that engage the community in cleanup and recycling initiatives.

3. Catalysing investments: The best ideas need financing to take shape, and be scaled and replicated. The Alliance aims to catalyse investments from a wide network of investors, including Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), the private sector, and philanthropic organisations, to allow for a pipeline of solutions to end plastic waste to be built.

Today, the Alliance has 39 projects in development. As they come onstream, and as the Alliane develops more projects, it will collect and recycle millions of tons of plastic waste every year. Members shape where and how the Alliance develops these projects.