Alliance To End Plastic Waste: Working To Keep Plastic Waste Out Of The Oceans

We are working together to end plastic waste

Ending plastic waste is ambitious. But it is through collaboration and collective action that this complex problem can be solved.

After laying the foundation of the Alliance’s work in the last two years, we focused on creating greater impact through our projects. This is only the beginning. There is more to do to end plastic waste in the environment. We are beginning to see early results and believe that our impact can continue to grow, and drive long-lasting transformation to help end plastic waste in the environment. This is the Alliance in Action.

Strategy in Action

Infrastructure

A fundamental gap in ensuring waste—plastic, glass, metal, or otherwise—does not enter our environment is the lack of proper waste management infrastructure. Our aim is to help develop infrastructure systems that can eventually be owned and operated by the communities they serve.

In Jembrana, Bali, we are working with the municipal body to develop a waste management system that also contributes to the rejuvenation of the municipality—with cleanup activities and the redevelopment of illegal dumpsites into new public spaces for the community. In Ghana and the Philippines, we are starting to see positive impact as sustainable solutions can help scale business, create better jobs, and transform communities.

Innovation

Innovative ideas that are translated into scalable solutions can help to address plastic waste across the value chain.

The Plastics Recovery Insights and Steering Model (PRISM) aims to be a publicly available data platform that allows users to integrate and view multiple plastic waste data sets. Built in partnership with IBM, the platform came to life as a beta version in 2021. PRISM is currently piloted in the Alliance community, capturing user feedback for improvement.

Semi-industrial trials are under way for an innovative sorting technology using digital watermarks called HolyGrail 2.0. If the trials are successful, in-market demonstrations and industrial-scale trials should start in Denmark, France, and Germany by mid-2022.

Education & Engagement

Empowering communities with the knowledge and tools to be part of the solution forms the ‘heartware’ that helps ensure that the ‘hardware’ we develop can have long-lasting impact.

We partnered German development agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to pilot a waste management system in the cities of Haridwar and Rishikesh, which lie along the Ganga river, to help prevent plastic waste leakage. Planning for material recovery facilities is under way.

In the meantime, a collective commitment has been made to clean up the iconic river. Several events to raise awareness about source segregation and cleanup activities were conducted with members of the public to help prepare the community for new waste management infrastructure that is planned for commissioning in 2022.

Education and engagement efforts are also expanding in Rayong, Thailand to help households better manage their waste.

Cleanup

By engaging communities in cleanup activities, we encourage them to get involved in keeping their environments litter-free. Cleanups are also the first step towards proper waste collection, processing, and recycling.

From activating grassroots cleanups around the world, to supporting cleanup efforts in Sri Lanka, every activation is another step towards a healthier environment.