The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) is an industry-founded and funded

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

and

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organization based in Singapore. Founding members include BASF, Chevron Phillips Chemical, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Proctor & Gamble and Shell. According to the company, the aim is to promote solutions that reduce and avoid environmental pollution from plastic waste, especially in the oceans. The AEPW works with the World Economic Council for Sustainable Development as a strategic partner and the

United Nations Environment Program The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

Initiatives

AEPW has promised to spend $1.5 billion by 2024 to reduce

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

and increase recycling efforts. In September 2020 the group reported having spent $400 million USD on projects in $400 million in southeast Asia, Africa and India. In November 2019 the group partnered with the ''Renew Oceans'' program to clean up plastic in the Ganges river. In October 2020 the program ceased operating, partly due to challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Criticism

The group has been criticized for promoting a reduction of plastic waste rather than a reduction in plastic production. Moreover, the 5-year recycling target of 15 million tonnes is only 0.8% of the 1.8 billion tonnes of plastic waste production, and the actual recycling of plastic waste during 2019-2021 was only 4 thousand tonnes, compared to the 3-year target of 9 million tonnes.

References

External links

Official site
{{int-org-stub Plastics and the environment Corporate social responsibility Defunct international non-governmental organizations Plastic recycling