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Global giants join forces to end plastic waste

A new alliance including Procter & Gamble, Shell and Veolia will invest over US$1bn over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment.

The cross value chain Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) is made up of 30 companies that make, use, sell, process, collect, and recycle plastics. Its aim is to advance solutions to eliminate plastic waste in the environment, especially in the ocean

Procter & Gamble president and CEO, David Taylor, who will chair the AEPW, claimed the alliance represented the most comprehensive effort to date to end plastic waste in the environment. “Everyone agrees that plastic waste does not belong in our oceans or anywhere in the environment. This is a complex and serious global challenge that calls for swift action and strong leadership,” said Taylor.

The alliance will initially focus investments in four key areas:

Infrastructure development to collect and manage waste and increase recycling;

Innovation to advance and scale new technologies that make recycling and recovering plastics easier and create value from all post-use plastics;

Education and engagement of governments, businesses, and communities to mobilise action; and

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.

Taylor urged companies, big and small and from all regions and sectors, to join the alliance, which has been working with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development as a founding strategic partner.