Five years ago, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste was founded with the purpose to end plastic waste and achieve a circular economy for plastics. Recognising that solutions are needed across the plastics value chain, the Alliance’s focus has always been on helping to improve the collection, sorting, and recycling of plastic waste. Alongside reduce and reuse, recycling is the engine that will drive the transition to a circular economy for plastics. When done at scale, recycling ensures that existing plastic material and products are kept in use and circulation for as long as possible, thereby reducing the need for virgin feedstock. 

To tackle the plastic waste challenge, all parts of the value chain must be addressed. Since inception, with the support of our partners, we have reduced almost 240,000 tonnes of plastic waste, captured value from over 253,000 tonnes of plastic waste, and catalysed S$610 million of funding commitments by other parties to date. 

As we grow, we increase our understanding of the scale and complexities of the challenges involved in building a circular economy for plastics. Our approach will evolve, building on the knowledge and lessons we have gleaned from project experience. It is apparent that full plastics circularity can only be achieved through widespread systems change.

That is why we have embarked on a new and ambitious pathway to deliver impact at speed and scale. With the Alliance’s Strategy2030, we will grow and expand our work with governments and development finance institutions (DFIs) to develop and implement a set of large-scale, high-impact programmes with at least US$100 million in collective financing for each programme.

Our future programming will be on a much larger scale than the individual projects we have previously funded. Programme design will fall into two categories, country-specific and thematic, with funding weighted towards emerging and developing countries. 

Country programmes will be large-scale efforts focused on regions with less mature plastic waste management systems, where there is significant unmanaged waste. Our efforts will be aligned with national priorities to tackle the integrated systems change needed to decrease plastic pollution and increase recycling rates. They will support each country in moving up the recycling maturity curve, addressing the market gaps that are roadblocking plastics circularity. 

Thematic programmes will be large-scale, multi-country efforts that encompass activities that nurture solutions and identify the systems change levers to address some of the most persistent challenges preventing plastics circularity. They will be centred around broader themes critical for achieving a circular economy, and will likely take place in developed countries with mature waste management and plastic recycling systems. 

India, Indonesia, and South Africa have been earmarked as our first country programmes, alongside our first thematic programme focused on flexible films. These are the areas where we see an urgent need to make the technical progress needed to close the circularity gaps. More programmes will follow, but the current portfolio was chosen based on their potential for impact, as well as the Alliance’s existing experience and footprint in the aforementioned countries and thematic pillar.

These programmes will be significant undertakings that will take years to develop and operate. They require deep collaboration with not only national and municipal governments, but other co-funders, including development banks and private-sector financial institutions. These partnerships are critical to unlocking the funds required for the resource-intensive infrastructure upgrades necessary for systems change. 

There remains a funding gap in the waste management solutions necessary to end plastic waste leakage and ensure the collected material is properly recycled. Solutions that address plastic leakage already exist, but many are marginally bankable, making it difficult to secure funding through traditional investment channels. Often, these projects involve emerging technologies, nascent business models, untested market applications, take place in emerging economies with a high volume of leakage, or a combination of the above, which increases their perceived financial risk.

The Alliance believes blended finance is one of the financing solutions to address this infrastructure gap. Blended finance combines both concessional and commercial capital from governments, multi-lateral development organisations, and philanthropic entities with private sector investments to mitigate the risk and improve the financial viability of projects that deliver significant social and environmental benefits but might otherwise be overlooked by traditional investors.

Our evolving direction acknowledges that we have a transformational role to play as a source of solutions and knowledge at this critical juncture. While our focus may have shifted, our North Star never wavers – by leveraging our collective capabilities across the plastics value chain, we continue to accelerate progress to advance circularity and the elimination of plastic waste. A future where plastic waste no longer pollutes our environment is within reach. Read our Progress Report 2024: Evolving for Impact. 

Ted Toth is the Vice President of Global Programmes & Circularity, Alliance to End Plastic Waste.