As the Alliance to End Plastic Waste celebrates its fifth anniversary, Innovation Platform sat down with Ted Toth, Vice President of Global Programs and Circularity, to discuss the evolving focus set out in the Alliance’s 2024 Progress Report and Strategy 2030.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste has released its Progress Report 2024, highlighting five years of impactful work aimed at tackling plastic waste. Since its launch in 2019, the Alliance has successfully reduced unmanaged plastic by approximately 240,000 tonnes and facilitated over US$610 million in funding.
The progress report outlines the launch of Strategy 2030, which changes the Alliance’s strategic focus and implements large-scale programs aligned with national priorities in India, Indonesia and South Africa, while addressing critical challenges in plastics recycling.
To learn more about the key achievements of Strategy 2030 and the 2024 Progress Report, Innovation Platform spoke to Ted Toth, Vice President of Global Programs and Circularity at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste.
What prompted the Alliance to evolve its strategic focus? What does Strategy 2030 include and what impact do you expect this to have?
It has been five years since the Alliance was established. Since then, our experience supporting over 80 projects has shown us that systems need to change to eliminate plastic waste and create a circular economy for plastics. Advocating for change is not enough. There is an urgent need to develop and demonstrate solutions that solve plastic pollution and enable plastic circularity.
Strategy 2030 sets out how the Alliance is evolving to advance plastic circularity globally. To drive impact with speed and scale, we are developing large-scale integrated programs in collaboration with co-sponsors such as governments and development finance institutions (DFIs). These programs aim to bring about change in the system through two different lenses:
Country programs aim to help countries move forward on their recycling maturity curves in a way that is in line with their governments’ national priorities. Our first country programs focused on emerging and developing countries (EMDE) will be implemented in Indonesia, India and South Africa.
Thematic programs address persistent global challenges to plastic circulation. The Alliance’s first thematic program will address flexible films that are difficult to collect and recycle. Thematic programs may span multiple regions, including countries that already have high plastic recycling rates. These countries are well-positioned to test advanced sorting and recycling technologies that can further improve the speed and quality of hard-to-recycle plastic waste.
The ultimate goal is to improve solid waste management and plastic recycling infrastructure solutions in underserved and thematic regions and identify public-private investment models to follow.
Last year, we highlighted some of the great projects and solutions the Alliance is working on, including Mr. Green Africa and African Pioneer Organization. How have these organizations continued to operate?
Mr. Green Africa (MGA) and the African Pioneer Organization (ARO) remain active partners in the Alliance.
According to its latest progress report, ARO has diverted approximately 14,300 tonnes of plastic from environmental and landfill sites and provided more than 12,800 tonnes of plastic waste for recycling. More than half of the 6,000 collectors in the ARO network have been formally recognized through the South African Waste Pickers Registration System (SAWPRS), jointly supported by the World Bank and the Alliance.
As of 2025, ARO is in the third phase of its partnership with the Alliance. This includes the gradual digitization of volume data on plastic waste collected as part of an effort to enable real-time tracking of collected materials.
MGA continues to expand community-based plastic waste collection in Kenya, integrating informal waste workers and micro-entrepreneurs into formal value chains. The Alliance is providing concessional financing to MGA as one of several co-sponsors in this effort.
It is important to note that much of what the Alliance and our partners are doing is at the limits of what is currently possible. This may be because the work is carried out in areas with high levels of waste leakage into the environment, in emerging economies with waste management systems in their infancy, or because new technologies, innovative business models, novel financing mechanisms, or a combination of all of the above are involved.
As with any project operating in a complex environment, you cannot expect everyone to work perfectly or achieve the same level of success at the same pace. Nevertheless, we believe it is important to continue testing and improving solutions that have the potential to transform plastics into circular materials.
The concept of catalytic capital is highlighted in both the 2023 and 2024 progress reports. Can you elaborate on why this approach is so important and what success stories it has had? For example, last year we discussed the ASASE Foundation, which is also featured in this year’s report.
Catalytic capital is the cornerstone of Strategy 2030. Making meaningful progress towards a circular economy for plastics will require significant infrastructure development and upgrades, which will require funding on a scale that the Alliance alone cannot provide. Therefore, unlocking funding from DFIs and the private sector is an essential element in implementing new programs.
These new programs will be resource-intensive undertakings. DFIs are ideal partners because they not only have significant capital, but also already have deep ties to governments. The rigorous standards set by DFI guide program development, manage project risks, and open new funding avenues, particularly related to EMDEs in need of financial support.
Our work with the ASASE Foundation shows how initial funding provided by the Alliance can help project partners acquire additional and larger funding sources that allow them to scale. The Ghana-based ASASE Foundation was founded by two women to empower women micro-entrepreneurs in the recycling sector.
Through financial and technical support in setting up a sorting and recycling operation, ASASE has developed a functional system and is now a recipient of the World Bank’s Plastic Waste Reduction Link Bond. The bond provides investors with financial returns linked to the plastic and carbon credits expected to be generated by the project. This provides the ASASE Foundation with funding that far exceeds its initial investment and we hope to work with more project partners to achieve this outcome.
We then exited the project as it progressed to a stage where ASASE was able to meet the necessary criteria to qualify for other capital pools. Our hope is that other projects will reach similar maturity.
This year’s progress report highlights the Alliance’s various new collaborations. Could you elaborate on some of the case studies included in this year’s report and discuss their potential impact in 2026 and beyond?
The work we do is complex and it takes time to observe and report results. Therefore, many of the collaborations highlighted in the latest progress report have been ongoing for several years.
One notable collaboration is the Plastic Circulation Fund. The fund, managed by Lombard Odier Investment Managers, is a pioneering initiative aimed at tackling the growing global challenge of plastic pollution. The fund accelerates the transition to a circular economy by investing in businesses that provide scalable and economically viable solutions, enabling the reduction of virgin plastic production and the creation of closed-loop systems.
The first successful fund closing occurred in 2023. Last year, the fund invested in four organizations focused on sustainability, including a French refillable cosmetics company and a German precision heating solutions company that reduces the amount of plastic material needed in certain packaging. We believe this is an important milestone in deepening the available financial platforms targeting this important area of circularity.
Alliance is a seed investor in the fund, contributing US$10 million. We will continue to act as a technical advisor, providing industry-led advice on the technical feasibility, commercial viability and scalability of plastic circular solutions, including waste management technologies and infrastructure.
The report highlights the value of collaboration, which not only develops solutions but also unites like-minded individuals and organizations in tackling the plastic waste challenge. How important is it that a resolution on a legally binding international instrument to end plastic pollution is reached in order to solve the problem at a global level?
The results for INC 5.2 were disappointing. We believe that an achievable framework and harmonized goals will help us all transition to a circular economy for plastics, delivering the environmental, social and economic benefits the world needs.
We had hoped for a global plastics treaty, but it is now clear that advocacy alone is not enough. Progress is only possible through coordinated action and cooperation, and our new strategy aims to achieve exactly this. System change is driven by actions on the ground, not words on paper.
This is a critical time for industry to play its part by implementing and demonstrating economically viable solutions with the potential to scale and replicate.
Looking ahead to 2026, what initiatives and strategies are being considered to build on the successes of the 2024 report and work toward Strategy 2030? Are there any new areas of focus for the Alliance going forward?
Our current focus is on program development and implementation of Strategy 2030. Our program is a multi-year effort, requiring significant coordination and collaboration with national and local governments and other co-founders.
As with any greenfield portfolio, we cannot expect all projects to achieve the same level of success. Our mission aligns with efforts that require a bold pioneering spirit to manage the financial risks associated with investing in new solutions across technology, business, operations and social models. If these projects were simple, our objectives would not be achieved.
Effective collaboration has been essential to the success of previous projects and will continue to underpin our future programs. The circular economy has no shortage of supporters, but collective action is essential to delivering tangible results.
We will continue to deepen and expand our collaboration with a diverse range of like-minded stakeholders who share our vision of achieving a circular economy for plastics.
This article will also be published in the quarterly magazine issue 24.
Source link
