A slew of large companies have banded together to address the problem of plastic waste entering the environment.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) comprises 30 companies who together have committed more than one billion dollars to the goal of reducing plastic waste, and aim to invest $1.5 billion over the next five years.
David Taylor, AEPW chair and CEO of Procter and Gamble, called the alliance the most comprehensive effort to eliminate plastic waste in the environment to date.
“Everyone agrees that plastic waste does not belong in our oceans or anywhere in the environment. This is a complex and serious global challenge that calls for swift action and strong leadership,” he said.
Dr. Martin Brudermüller, chairman of the board of executive directors and chief technology officer of BASF SE, said his company strongly supports the Alliance in its aim of reducing plastic waste in the environment, and supported the idea from the beginning.
“We are co-founding the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, because we want to drive and promote solutions that will effectively help solve the world’s plastic waste problem,” said Brudermüller.
“Plastics are efficient materials that can save resources and enable health, safety as well as convenience benefits for society. These benefits could be contradicted, if plastics and their waste are neither used nor disposed nor recycled in a responsible manner.”
The founding members of the AEPW are BASF, Berry Global, Braskem, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, Clariant, Covestro, CP Group, Dow, DSM, ExxonMobil, Formosa Plastics Corporation USA, Henkel, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, NOVA Chemicals, OxyChem, PolyOne, Procter & Gamble, Reliance Industries, SABIC, Sasol, Shell, Suez, SCG Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical, Total, Veolia, and Versalis (Eni).
