Dow to Help Lead $1 Billion Global Alliance to End Plastic Waste in the Environment
January 16 2019 - 5:06AM
Business Wire
Alliance to End Plastic Waste to focus on waste management
infrastructure, innovation, education, engagement and clean-up of
plastic waste
Dow is playing a lead role in the formation of a new alliance of
global companies to advance solutions that eliminate plastic waste
in the environment, especially in the ocean.
Dow is a founding member of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste
(AEPW), a newly formed organization committing more than $1 billion
with the goal of raising $1.5 billion over the next five years to
develop and scale solutions that manage plastic waste and promote
post-use solutions of plastic. The Alliance, currently comprised of
nearly 30 companies, will develop and bring to scale solutions that
will minimize and manage plastic waste and promote solutions by
transitioning to a circular economy for plastics. The Alliance
membership represents global companies and organizations located
throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the
Middle East.
“Keeping our environment free of waste is important to the
future of Dow and our industry, but more importantly, it’s
important to the future of our planet,” said Jim Fitterling, chief
executive officer of Dow. “This initiative brings together
companies, governments, NGOs and consumers to accelerate efforts to
drive innovation, provide much-needed resources, and take decisive
action to put an end to plastic waste in the environment.”
The Alliance is a not-for-profit organization that includes
companies from across the global plastics and consumer goods value
chain, including chemical and plastic manufacturers, consumer goods
companies, retailers, converters, and waste management companies,
along with a strategic partnership with the World Business Council
for Sustainable Development.
The Alliance will make investments and drive progress 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 mobilize action;
and,
- Clean up 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 ocean.
“Solving this critical world challenge will require a diverse
set of solutions developed by an equally diverse group of
stakeholders,” said Fitterling. “The Alliance to End Plastic Waste
brings together some of the most innovative minds in the world,
allowing us to explore, develop and implement those solutions.”
Dow’s lead role in the AEPW is another example of the company’s
actions, commitments and investments to help eliminate plastic
waste from the environment. Most recently the company has:
- Invested in people and companies
working toward solutions: In October, Dow announced that it
became a founding investor in Circulate Capital’s $100 million
effort to incubate and finance companies and infrastructure that
prevent waste in oceans. Circulate Capital’s mission is to
demonstrate the viability of investment in the waste management and
recycling sectors to attract the institutional investment capital
needed to scale integrated recycling and waste management companies
and infrastructure across South and Southeast Asia.
- Engaged with government: Dow is
a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action
Partnership, designed to bring businesses, civil society, national
and local governments, community groups and world-class experts
together to collaborate on solving plastic pollution. This
partnership is initially funded by the governments of Canada and
the U.K., along with Dow and several global brands, with the
objective to have investable localized solutions in place by 2020,
which can then be adapted and implemented in other countries. The
first project is a collaboration with the government of
Indonesia.
- Cleaned up of existing waste:
Dow’s recent #PullingOurWeight campaign, which began in fall 2018,
included more than 5,600 Dow employees, families and friends
participating in 55 cleanups globally, removing more than 52,500
pounds of trash and litter from beaches and waterways.
- Innovated for recyclability:
Product innovation is another key part of Dow’s efforts to end
plastics waste in the environment. Dow’s RecycleReady technology
enables manufacturers to develop packaging that can qualify for the
Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s “How2Recycle” label and can be
recycled via polyethylene recycling streams such as the grocery
store drop-off system in the U.S. Dow also continues to focus on
compatibilizer technologies which allow multi-layer packaging
materials to be recycled into new products.
- Advanced waste to energy
projects: In 2014, Dow initiated the Hefty® EnergyBag® recovery
initiative which collects hard-to-recycle plastics and converts
them into valuable resources. As of July 2018, the Hefty®
EnergyBag® program has collected more than 176,500 bags and
diverted more than 115 tons of plastics from landfills, the
equivalent of approximately 92 million snack-sized chip bags or 546
barrels of diesel fuel. Dow recently announced another $100,000 in
grant funding for organizations to establish programs in their
communities.
- Worked closely with leading
NGOs: Dow also announced in October 2018 that it is donating an
additional $1 million to Ocean Conservancy over the next two years
to support waste collection and recycling solutions in Southeast
Asian countries. This money will be used for projects that build
the capacity of local non-governmental organizations and
partnerships with city leaders to develop, scale and replicate
implementable solutions.
- Invested in recycling and waste
management solutions: Another step Dow is taking to complement
its circular economy activities is to drive development of new
commercial recycling business models and growth strategies to
monetize plastics waste recycling streams globally.
- Continues to collaborate across the
value chain: Dow is also a founding member of the Sustainable
Packaging Coalition, which collaborates with packaging converters
and brand owners to increase production of stand-up pouches that
can be recycled through existing polyethylene film recycling
streams.
About Dow
Dow combines science and technology knowledge to develop premier
materials science solutions that are essential to human progress.
Dow has one of the strongest and broadest toolkits in the industry,
with robust technology, asset integration, scale and competitive
capabilities that enable it to address complex global issues. Dow’s
market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of advanced materials,
industrial intermediates, and plastics businesses deliver a broad
range of differentiated technology-based products and solutions for
customers in high-growth markets such as packaging, infrastructure,
and consumer care. Dow is a subsidiary of DowDuPont (NYSE: DWDP), a
holding company comprised of Dow and DuPont with the intent to form
three strong, independent, publicly traded companies in
agriculture, materials science and specialty sectors. More
information can be found at www.dow.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190116005305/en/
For further information, please contact:Jarrod
Erpelding+1 989.633.1863jarrod.erpelding@dow.com
Rachelle Schikorra+1 989.638.4090ryschikorra@dow.com
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