Berry Global, NOVA Chemicals, BASF, Dow and Henkel are among more than 25 companies that have joined The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, a new, non-profit organization that aims to partner with the finance community, government and civil society to eliminate environmental plastic waste.

Founding companies are making a combined initial commitment of $1 billion toward this initiative, with a goal of raising $1.5 billion over the next five years.

Over the next five years, the Alliance plans to to support investments and programs to help eliminate plastic waste in the environment, and drive progress in four key areas: 

• Infrastructure development to manage waste and increase recycling. 
• Innovation to develop and bring to scale new materials and product designs that minimize waste and new recycling technologies that create value from all post-use plastics.
• Education and engagement of governments at all levels, communities, businesses and even individuals.
• Clean up of concentrated areas of waste in the environment, particularly the major conduits of waste that carry land-based waste to waterways.   

“This investment demonstrates our commitment to helping to shape a world that is better tomorrow than it is today,” says Todd Karran, president and CEO, NOVA Chemicals. “Plastics in our environment is a growing challenge, but a solvable one with strong leadership and collaboration. We are proud to join the Alliance to End Plastic Waste as a founding member and work with other industry leaders to address this concern.”

NOVA Chemicals is already taking action to prevent plastic from reaching the ocean. The company recently announced its investment of nearly $2 million to support Project STOP - an initiative to design and implement solutions to reduce marine plastic pollution, with a primary focus area of Indonesia.

“This Alliance is different from other organizations in that it spans the value chain. Brand owners, plastic resin producers, chemical companies, converters like ourselves, as well as waste management companies and recyclers, all aligned towards a common goal of how we ultimately end plastic waste,” notes Tom Salmon, chairman and CEO of Berry Global.

In addition to Berry’s efforts with the Alliance, Berry also partners with key organizations to encourage recycling as well as internal efforts to improve product recyclability and increase offerings with recycled content. As part of its efforts to end plastic waste, the company has pledged to prevent resin pellet, flake and powder loss through their partnership with Operation Clean Sweep.

“Our decision to become a founding member in the Alliance reinforces our commitment to promoting a circular value chain for plastics, as demonstrated by our strategy and ambitious targets for sustainable packaging,” says Hans Van Bylen, Henkel CEO.

By 2025, 100 percent of Henkel’s packaging will be recyclable, reusable or compostable. At the same time, 35 percent of the packaging of Henkel’s consumer products in Europe will include recycled plastics. To drive progress toward a circular value chain for plastics, Henkel follows a comprehensive approach.

Henkel is engaged in several cross-industry initiatives to drive innovation in packaging development and to find effective solutions which can be implemented on a large scale. The company is member of the New Plastics Economy (NPEC), an initiative led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that brings key stakeholders together to redesign the future of plastics. NPEC is aiming to build momentum toward a plastics system based on the “circular economy” principle. Henkel also supports different organizations and initiatives which drive progress for the improvement of recycling infrastructure allowing for a circular economy.

We will update this story as we get more information. 

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste

www.endplasticwaste.org