Sharing the belief that collaboration and collective action are critical to eliminating problematic packaging waste, Amcor has joined the global Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) at Executive Committee level.
The Alliance’s 57 member companies agree to support, through positive action, projects to build and scale solutions to end plastic waste in the environment.
For Amcor, membership with the Alliance was a no-brainer, since it aligns with its own 2025 Sustainability Pledge to develop all its packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025.
This partnership represents the latest example of Amcor's commitment to better waste management and recycling infrastructure.
According to Ron Delia, Amcor CEO, the company’s extensive innovation capabilities are delivering packaging designed to achieve all of its commitments in this space.
“But keeping waste out of the environment also requires collaboration across the global value chain for better waste management and recycling infrastructure, and to educate consumers,” explains Delia.
“AEPW serves as a crucial forum for that collaborative effort across parties aligned on the need to deliver more sustainable outcomes.
“I am excited that Amcor is taking up this leadership role within the Alliance and we look forward to working with the other Alliance members to advance on our shared ambitions for responsible packaging,”
Amcor already has projects underway that actively tackle the problem of waste leakage and is aligned with the Alliance’s four pillars – waste management infrastructure, innovation, education and engagement, and cleaning up.
Amcor also recently partnered with McKinsey.org to develop recycling and waste management solutions for communities in Latin America.
The organisation is also a member of the WWF-led activation hub, ReSource: Plastic, and has global partnerships with Ocean Conservancy and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative.
“The addition of Amcor to the Alliance’s Executive Committee strengthens our links to the packaging industry,” says Jacob Duer, AEPW’s chief executive.
“Amcor’s expertise, as the world’s leading diversified packaging company, will bring new capabilities to the Alliance’s project portfolio and brings us closer towards achieving our vision of ending plastic waste in the environment.”
The AEPW is an international non-profit organisation partnering with government, environmental and economic development NGOs, and communities around the world to address the challenge to end plastic waste in the environment.
An example of the Alliance’s current projects include Project STOP Jembrana in Indonesia, where a new waste management system is being built to address high volumes of plastic waste, while empowering the local community to collect, sort and sell their own waste.
Another example is the Alliance’s work on the End Plastic Waste Innovation Platform, which fosters start-ups across the plastic value chain to accelerate innovation to eliminate plastic waste.
Look out for The PKN Podcast next week, in which PKN publisher Lindy Hughson talks to Amcor Flexibles director of sustainability, Richard Smith.
