Alliance to End Plastic Waste

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) is an industry-founded and funded non-governmental and non-profit organization based in Singapore.[1] Founding members include BASF, Chevron Phillips Chemical, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Proctor & Gamble and Shell.[2]

According to the company, the aim is to promote solutions that reduce and avoid environmental pollution from plastic waste, especially in the oceans. These solutions are based on the AEPW's four strategic pillars: infrastructure, innovation, education and engagement, and cleanup.[3] The AEPW works with the World Economic Council for Sustainable Development as a strategic partner and the United Nations Environment Program.[4] The group has been widely criticized as a greenwashing initiative that has not met ambitious goals for plastic cleanup, and using it's lobbying power to prevent regulation of plastics.[5][6][7]

Initiatives

AEPW has promised to spend $1.5 billion by 2024 to reduce plastic pollution and increase recycling efforts.[8][9] In September 2020 the group reported having spent $400 million USD on projects in $400 million in southeast Asia, Africa and India.[10]

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.[1] In 2022, the group partnered with the Plastic Bank launching Ocean Steward Educational Programme with the goal of encouraging kids to bring the plastic waste that they have at home to plastic collection branches at school. [11]


Criticism

The group has been criticized for promoting a reduction of plastic waste rather than a reduction in plastic production.[7] 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.[6]

References
  1. Sharma, Joe Brock, John Geddie, Saurabh (18 January 2021). "Big Oil's flagship plastic waste project sinks on the Ganges". Reuters.
  2. "About". Alliance To End Plastic Waste. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  3. "Alliance To End Plastic Waste". endplasticwaste.org. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  4. "Alliance to End Plastic Waste targets plastic in the environment". Recycling Today.
  5. "Inside Big Plastic's Faltering $1.5 Billion Global Cleanup Effort". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  6. "Alliance to End Plastic Waste: Barely Credible" (PDF). planet-tracker.org/. August 2022.
  7. "'It's a pipe dream': Green groups blast plastic makers' recycling push". www.msn.com.
  8. "The Plastic Industry Is Growing During COVID. Recycling? Not So Much". FRONTLINE.
  9. "U.S. Recycling Industry Is Struggling To Figure Out A Future Without China". NPR.org.
  10. Osborne, James (30 October 2020). "U.S. contribution to plastic waste crisis larger than previously understood". Houston Chronicle.
  11. "Ocean Stewards". Alliance to End Plastic Waste.
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