Report calls Alliance to End Plastic Waste ‘greenwashing,' a ‘paltry' effort

A new report from the environmental think tank Planet Tracker is calling the plastics industry's $1.5 billion Alliance to End Plastic Waste initiative in the developing world a greenwashing campaign that's made "paltry" progress.

The Aug. 31 report said the industry-funded alliance, which launched to much fanfare in 2019 with funding from companies including Dow Inc. and LyondellBasell, has only recycled 4,000 metric tons of plastic waste since it started.

That compares to its stated goal of diverting millions of tons from the environment through better recycling and waste management in emerging economies.

"Our findings lay out a clear picture of a coalition that is greencrowding — a sophisticated form of greenwashing that sees global corporates hide behind an appealing group title in order to justify moving at the pace of the lowest common denominator," said Thalia Bofiliou, an author of the report and senior investment analyst at Planet Tracker.

The alliance strongly disputed the conclusions in the report, saying that investments like it is making in developing countries will take time to show results.

Still, Planet Tracker pointed to AEPW's own data in its 2021 progress report for the 4,000 metric ton figure, saying it represents only 0.04 percent of the plastics waste reduction target set by the group.

PT said the alliance, which is financed by major plastics and consumer product companies, has spent 40 percent of its budget thus far, and it called on AEPW companies to significantly ramp up investments in recycling and plastics recovery.

Planet Tracker argued that the $1.5 billion committed to funding alliance activities is dwarfed by the $400 billion planned in virgin plastics manufacturing investments globally in coming years.

"What is concerning is that they have 60-plus projects underway and are woefully short of their own (minimal) plastic removal targets," Planet Tracker said in written comments to Plastics News. "We understand that shareholders need return on their investment but there must be a better balance between dividends and share buy-backs … and investing in circularity."

But the alliance, which is based in Singapore, said it disagrees with the Planet Tracker report and said it contains some factual inaccuracies.

The more than 50 projects that the alliance has developed, mostly in emerging economies in Asia, Africa and elsewhere, will take time to scale up and start working, it said.

"Despite initial delays caused by the global pandemic, we have made notable progress this year and are on track to divert and recycle more than five times more plastic waste compared to previous years' volumes of 4,000 tonnes," AEPW said. "Our goal is always to demonstrate what works and then to scale and replicate proven solutions with other stakeholders.

"That scaling and replication is now taking shape as our projects mature," it said.

For example, it pointed to the announcement this year of what it called its "flagship program," Bersih Indonesia, part of the Indonesian government's work to reduce ocean plastic and have 70 percent of the country's waste properly managed by 2025.

Still, Planet Tracker argued that the 4,000 metric tons of plastic waste diverted by the alliance to date means it has "barely had any impact."

The group, a United Kingdom-based environmental and financial think tank, said in its report that AEPW companies on average are spending only 2-3 percent of shareholder returns and capital investments on alliance activity.

"Clearly, the priority for AEPW members is not removing and recycling plastic waste through this organization," it said. "Instead, many of the Alliance members are choosing to invest heavily in the expansion of plastic production while failing to fund even meager recovery and recycling targets through the AEPW."

It argued that increasing amounts of plastics legislation worldwide and the United Nations negotiations for a global plastics treaty starting later this year indicate a strong public desire to see the industry to step up investment in recycling and recovery.

Planet Tracker also called on alliance partners like McKinsey and Bain & Co. to step back from involvement with the alliance, or risk hurting their reputations.

Other groups active in plastics waste issues have said making a dent in ocean plastics will require orders of magnitude more spending than the AEPW's $1.5 billion budget, a point that the alliance has agreed with. The head of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, for example, told a National Geographic forum in 2020 it would take $150 billion.

Planet Tracker's report said that eight of the 20 largest makers of resin used in single-use products globally are in the alliance, but that AEPW's projects are not keeping up with new waste generated by its plastic made by its members.

"The [AEPW] has made paltry progress in achieving its much lauded objectives," Planet Tracker said.

The group has had some setbacks. One initiative in India that had been touted at its 2019 launch as a "best project" later shut down.

The alliance disputed one of the key figures in the PT report, which said the industry alliance has a public target of diverting 3 million metric tons of plastic waste a year over five years.

But AEPW has not set specific targets like that, said Allison Lim, vice president of corporate and public affairs for the alliance.

Planet Tracker said the 3 million target was based on a description of AEPW activities on a sustainability media platform, Devex. But Lim said that figure is not accurate.

Still, even as it pushed back on that specific figure, AEPW has publicly endorsed a target of "millions" of metric tons, a point the alliance acknowledged.

"We remain fully committed to our ambition of diverting millions of tons of plastic waste," AEPW CEO Jacob Duer wrote in the group's 2021 progress report.

Planet Tracker said that whatever the group's target, the gap between the waste plastic diverted thus far and the alliance's goals present a credibility problem for AEPW.

"There is still the issue of how they intend to get from 4,000 tonnes to millions — whatever 'millions' means," the think tank said in a statement. "The credibility gap is still there."

The alliance, however, cautioned that building effective local programs takes time and there are daunting challenges. More than 3 billion people worldwide still do not have access to adequate waste management.

"Ending plastic waste is a complex challenge and requires action on multiple fronts by industry, governments, investors, civil society, and communities," the alliance said. "Since our founding, we have been working diligently to develop fit-for-purpose solutions in the many underserved areas where we operate."

As one example, the alliance said it has worked to increase investment in waste management, pointing to a May announcement it made with Lombard Odier Investment Managers to launch a $500 million circular plastics investment fund.

Investing in circular plastics packaging could be a $1 trillion economic opportunity by 2030, the statement said.

The alliance also said its member companies are making their own investments in plastics recycling, separate from AEPW.

"We take note of the recommendations included in the [Planet Tracker] report and recognize that much more financial resources are needed to address the plastic waste challenge," AEPW said. "The ambition is to catalyze larger capital investments working with financial institutions."

Besides new financing models, the alliance also said it is getting more involved in upstream areas like design of products and materials, as well as new business models that include responsible production and consumption and "maximizing" reuse and recycling. It has also attracted more member companies.

The Planet Tracker report also singled out the American Chemistry Council for criticism in several places, saying that the political work of ACC and its member companies, many of whom are in the AEPW, is at odds with reducing plastic waste.

It criticized them, for example, for lobbying against a virgin plastic tax in the United States and opposing the Break Free from Plastics Pollution Act in Congress.

As well, PT said the alliance and ACC — which was heavily involved in creating AEPW — are too focused on seeing plastic pollution as a downstream issue to be solved by recycling and recovery, rather than focusing on reducing production of virgin plastic.

"Reducing the supply of virgin plastics rarely surfaces," Planet Tracker said.

Washington-based ACC said in a statement that it supports science-based policies and it pointed to its own support for federal laws that would mandate recycled content in plastic products, set up producer responsibility systems to finance recycling and create national standards.

ACC said the policies advocated by Planet Tracker would hurt the economy.

"We will never shy away from opposing policies that stifle innovation, increase carbon emissions, and will bring the global supply chain to a complete halt," said Joshua Baca, ACC's vice president of plastics. "Proposals like production caps on plastic, the Break Free from Plastics Pollution Act, and the plastic resin tax we helped stall do just that."