Several top chemical and petrochemical companies, as well as consumer products companies, have formed a new organization to provide solutions to eliminate plastic waste in the environment especially in the ocean.
The founding members of the organization called Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) include 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 (Eni).
The members have committed over $1bn with the goal of investing $1.5bn over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment. The Alliance will develop and bring to scale solutions that will minimize and manage plastic waste and promote solutions for used plastics by helping to enable a circular economy. The Alliance has been working with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) as a founding strategic partner.
Some of the initial projects and collaborations include:
- Partnering with cities to design integrated waste management systems in large urban areas where infrastructure is lacking.
- Funding the Incubator Network by Circulate Capital to develop and promote technologies, business models and entrepreneurs that prevent ocean plastic waste and improve waste management and recycling.
- Developing an open source, science-based global information project to support waste management projects globally.
- Create a capacity building collaboration with intergovernmental organizations such as the UN to conduct joint workshops and training for government officials and community-based leaders.
- Supporting Renew Oceans to aid localized investment and engagement.
In the months ahead, the Alliance will make additional investments in four key areas:
- Infrastructure to collect and manage waste and increase recycling
- Innovation to advance and scale new technologies that make recycling and plastic recovery easier
- Education and management
- Clean up of concentrated areas of plastic waste already in the environment
Here are the statements from several founding members:
FOLLOW ME ON THESE SPACE
Once upon a time biodegradable plastics were being developed and commercialized by Metabolix. But due to having to compete with the, as long as fossil resources are plentiful available, low cost, non-biodegradable plastics this endeavor failed.
Posted by Dirk | January 18, 2019, 8:29 pmHi Dirk,
Unfortunately, I have seen several negative comments on biodegradable/compostable plastics on social media especially LinkedIn and chemical companies seem to have downplayed the potential role of bioplastics as part of the solution to end plastic waste.
However, I think consumer brand companies are still hopeful about bioplastics and continue to remain collaborators and investors.
The bioplastic industry has to be very proactive in promoting biodegradable/compostable plastics and educating consumers in the definition of biodegradable/compostable and bio-based materials. There is too much confusion on the market on their end-of-life disposal.
Posted by Doris de Guzman | January 18, 2019, 8:39 pm