Since its founding in 2019, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste has pursued a quiet but consequential ambition: to transform the way humanity accounts for the materials it discards. In 2025, the first full year of its Strategy 2030, the Alliance diverted 138,162 tonnes of plastic from unmanaged disposal and unlocked US$641 million in third-party investment commitments — not as endpoints, but as proof that systemic change in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa is possible. The deeper question the organization is now asking is whether isolated acts of rescue can be replaced by
Alliance to End Plastic Waste Reports 378K Tonnes Reduced Since 2019
Delivering solutions that create lasting impact takes sustained effort and strong partnerships.
Mark
So they've reduced 378,000 tonnes since 2019. That sounds like a lot. Is it?
Mimi
In context, it's meaningful but not transformative. Global plastic waste runs to hundreds of millions of tonnes annually. What matters here is the *type* of waste they're addressing — unmanaged plastic that would otherwise end up in landfills, oceans, or informal dumps in countries without recycling infrastructure.
Luke
Right, and we should be clear: "reduced" and "valorised" are different things. Reduced means kept out of unmanaged disposal. Valorised means they've captured economic value from it — recycled it, reused it, or sold it. Those are two separate metrics, and the source keeps both.
Mark
Why the shift to Country Programs instead of scattered projects?
Mimi
Because a single recycling facility in one city doesn't fix the system. You need collection, sorting, processing, and demand for the recycled material all working together. The Alliance realized that to move the needle, they had to think like infrastructure builders, not charity operators.
Luke
Though we should note: they're only in five countries. Indonesia, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa. That's a strategic choice, but it's also a limit on their reach.
Mark
The Phoenix flexible plastics project — is that actually working?
Mimi
It's a pilot. They're testing whether on-site baling and on-demand collection makes economics work for small generators. If it does, it could unlock a whole category of waste that's currently unrecyclable because the volumes are too small.
Luke
But we don't have results yet. It's early. The real question is whether this model scales beyond Phoenix, and whether end-markets actually exist for the material they collect. They commissioned a study to map that, which suggests they don't yet have a complete picture.
Mark
What about the $641 million in funding?
Mimi
That's third-party money — investors and impact funds putting capital into circular economy projects. The Alliance catalyzed it, meaning they de-risked the projects enough that other money followed.
Luke
Though we should be precise: that's cumulative since 2019, not annual. And it's commitments, not necessarily deployed capital. The Plastic Circularity Strategy fund just closed, so we're in the deployment phase now.
Mark
So what's the real story here?
Mimi
A global organization is trying to remake how countries handle plastic waste by shifting from one-off projects to systems-level change. They're learning what works and attracting capital to scale it.
Luke
And the honest version: they're still in year one of a ten-year strategy. The tonnage numbers are real, but the test is whether they can move the needle at scale in countries where waste infrastructure barely exists. That's much harder than the progress report suggests.
The Pulse
- Plastic waste is not a uniform crisis — it fractures along lines of infrastructure, geography, and material type, making piecemeal solutions structurally insufficient.
- The Alliance is abandoning the logic of standalone projects in favour of Country Programs that rebuild entire recycling chains — collection, sorting, processing, and end-market demand — simultaneously.
- Flexible plastics, the films and pouches recycled almost nowhere, have become the focus of a new Thematic Program testing demand-led collection models in Europe, North America, and beyond.
- Capital is the binding constraint: the Alliance is acting as a de-risker, using its own funds and expertise to prove circular economy projects work before drawing in larger pools of public, private, and philanthropic finance.
- A dedicated investment fund, the Plastic Circularity Strategy managed by Lombard Odier, reached final close in 2026 and is now deploying growth equity into companies cracking previously unrecyclable materials.
- With cumulative totals reaching 378,147 tonnes reduced since 2019, the organisation acknowledges that the real test — remaking waste systems where infrastructure barely exists — still lies ahead.
Since its founding in 2019, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste has pursued a quiet but consequential ambition: to transform the way humanity accounts for the materials it discards. In 2025, the first full year of its Strategy 2030, the Alliance diverted 138,162 tonnes of plastic from unmanaged disposal and unlocked US$641 million in third-party investment commitments — not as endpoints, but as proof that systemic change in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa is possible. The deeper question the organization is now asking is whether isolated acts of rescue can be replaced by the redesign of entire waste economies, country by country, material by material.
On September 9, 2026, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste released its 2025 Progress Report, marking the first full year of Strategy 2030 — a deliberate shift away from isolated interventions toward integrated programs designed to remake how entire countries handle plastic.
Since 2019, the Alliance has kept 378,147 metric tonnes of plastic out of unmanaged disposal and recovered value from another 418,529 tonnes through recycling and reuse. In 2025 alone, it diverted 138,162 tonnes and valorised 165,317 more. To sustain this momentum, it has mobilised US$641 million in commitments from third-party investors and impact funds, engaged 559 partner organisations, and reached over 1.5 million people through education and behaviour-change programmes.
The strategic pivot reflects a hard-won recognition: plastic waste is not one problem. The Alliance now runs Country Programs in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, and South Africa — each designed to strengthen the full recycling system rather than build a single facility. In Indonesia, working alongside the government and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, it launched an integrated pilot in Malang Regency coordinating source segregation, collection, sorting, and connections to local recyclers, with up to US$40 million committed to scale the model across multiple cities. In India, a municipal waste facility in Mathura-Vrindavan now operates at 75 percent capacity, on track to process 300 tonnes daily and divert 80 percent of the city's waste from landfill.
Beyond national programs, the Alliance launched Thematic Programs targeting materials that defeat borders — beginning with flexible plastics, the films and pouches used everywhere but recycled almost nowhere. In Phoenix, Arizona, it is piloting on-site baling and on-demand collection for smaller commercial generators, while a commissioned study maps where recycled flexible plastic could actually find a U.S. market.
Capital remains the central constraint, and the Alliance has positioned itself as a de-risker — proving projects work before attracting larger public, private, and philanthropic pools. The Plastic Circularity Strategy fund, seeded and advised by the Alliance and managed by Lombard Odier Investment Managers, reached final close in summer 2026 and is now backing companies such as Spain's Fych Technologies, which has patented a process for recycling complex multilayer plastics, and Switzerland's Bloom Biorenewables, which converts non-edible biomass into bio-based materials.
President and CEO Jacob Duer described 2025 as foundational. The numbers are real, but the harder work — remaking waste systems in countries where infrastructure is thin and habits are entrenched — remains the defining challenge ahead.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste released its 2025 Progress Report on September 9, 2026, marking the first full year of executing its Strategy 2030 — a shift toward larger, integrated programs designed to remake how countries handle plastic at scale rather than pursuing isolated projects.
Since its founding in 2019, the organization has kept 378,147 metric tonnes of plastic waste out of unmanaged disposal and captured value from another 418,529 tonnes through recycling and reuse. In 2025 alone, the numbers were 138,162 tonnes diverted and 165,317 tonnes valorized. To put weight behind these interventions, the Alliance has mobilized US$641 million in commitments from third-party investors and impact funds. Its education and behavior-change work has reached over 1.5 million people. In the past year, it engaged 559 organizations to finance, develop, and implement projects.
The strategic pivot matters because plastic waste is not a uniform problem. The Alliance now operates Country Programs in five markets where the need is most acute: Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, and South Africa. Each program focuses on strengthening the entire recycling system — collection, sorting, processing, and creating demand for recycled material — rather than building a single facility or running a single campaign. In Indonesia, the Alliance is working under the Government of Indonesia and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on a Solid Waste Management for Sustainable Urban Development initiative. In 2025, it launched an integrated pilot in Malang Regency, East Java, coordinating source segregation, collection, sorting, and connections to local recyclers. The organization has committed up to US$40 million to scale what it learns in Malang across multiple cities and regencies. In India, a municipal waste processing facility in Mathura-Vrindavan, built with Alliance financing and local authorities, now operates at 75 percent capacity and is expected to process 300 tonnes of waste daily while diverting 80 percent of the city's waste from landfill.
Beyond country-specific work, the Alliance launched Thematic Programs to tackle barriers that cross borders. The first focuses on flexible plastics — films, pouches, and laminates that are used everywhere but recycled almost nowhere. In Europe and North America, the Alliance is testing a market-driven strategy: start with what recyclers and manufacturers actually need, then build the collection and sorting system around that demand. In Phoenix, Arizona, the organization is piloting a new model with RME Defeats Waste that brings on-site baling and on-demand collection to smaller commercial and industrial generators — manufacturers, hospitals, and similar facilities that produce too little material to make traditional collection economical. The Alliance also commissioned a study mapping the U.S. flexible plastics supply chain to identify where recycled material could actually find a market.
Capital remains the binding constraint. The Alliance has positioned itself as a de-risker: it uses its own funding and technical expertise to prove that circular economy projects work, then attracts larger pools of public, private, and philanthropic money. The Plastic Circularity Strategy, a fund managed by Lombard Odier Investment Managers that the Alliance helped seed and advise, reached its final close in summer 2026 and is now deploying growth equity into companies building circularity solutions. Two portfolio companies illustrate the range: Spain's Fych Technologies has patented a process for recycling complex multilayer plastics that are normally impossible to recover; Switzerland's Bloom Biorenewables converts non-edible biomass into bio-based chemicals and materials.
Jacob Duer, the Alliance's President and CEO, framed 2025 as foundational work. "Delivering solutions that create greater, lasting impact takes sustained effort, strong partnerships, and commitment," he said. The organization is building momentum, but the scale of the problem — and the time required to remake waste systems in countries where infrastructure barely exists — means the real test lies ahead.
Notable Quotes
2025 was an important first year for Strategy 2030 as we strengthened the foundations for impact at scale and systems change.— Jacob Duer, President and CEO, Alliance to End Plastic Waste
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