Alliance to End Plastic Waste Strengthens Partnership and Supporter Base with Accenture, EY, University of Leeds and UNIDO

Singapore, April 27, 2022 – The Alliance to End Plastic Waste today welcomes new partners and supporters Accenture, EY, University of Leeds, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). These collaborations will bolster various innovations and projects to address plastic waste in the environment.

Accenture is a global professional services company that delivers on the promise of technology and human ingenuity, which includes helping clients across 40 industries reach their sustainability goals by transitioning to low-carbon energy; reducing the carbon footprint of IT, cloud, and software; and designing and delivering net-zero, circular supply chains. Accenture joins the Alliance as a supporter and will leverage its expertise in strategy, consulting, and sustainability to study plastic credits issues.

“Removing plastic waste from the environment is an extensive effort requiring the commitment of all stakeholders,” said Dr Bernd Elser, an Accenture managing director who leads its chemicals industry practice. “By being part of this collaboration, we want to help reimagine and achieve a world free of plastic waste.”

EY is a multinational professional services network. Its global chemical, manufacturing, supply chain and finance experience will help develop measurements for the effectiveness of work being done across the Alliance, as well as helping to identify and catalyse funding for Alliance-led projects.

“Ending plastic waste is a towering ambition which requires action across all segments of society. I believe that through innovation and collaboration with the Alliance community, lasting change can be achieved. One of the key next steps will be unlocking investment in circular, innovative and viable solutions,” said Dr Ing Frank Jenner, Global Chemical and Advanced Materials Leader at EY. “Having the right metrics in place and consistently measuring performance then we can prove that success can be replicated, thereby attracting greater investment and allowing us to move faster and closer to ending plastic waste for good.”

The University of Leeds is one of the largest higher education institutions in the UK, with a world-renowned interdisciplinary research programme on plastic pollution. The University aims to establish a data partnership in support of the Alliance’s Plastics Recovery Insights and Steering Model (PRISM).

"Reducing the amount of plastic pollution in the world is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity.To bring about change, we need to understand how plastic waste is getting into the environment,” said Dr Costas Velis, expert in plastic pollution, circular economy and recycling at the University of Leeds. “This joint effort with the Alliance and PRISM will enable us to effectively apply methods to quantify the movement of plastic waste through the economy and the environment - and identify ways of preventing pollution and encouraging circularity.”

UNIDO is a specialised agency of the UN that assists countries in economic and industrial development. Together, UNIDO and the Alliance will identify, co-develop, and implement integrated plastic waste management and circular economy projects in priority regions. The aim is to help underserved communities leapfrog waste management capabilities, in tandem with urbanisation and industrialisation growth.

“UNIDO is pleased to enter this partnership with the Alliance to help countries, communities, and the private sector shift toward circularity along the plastic value chain and end plastic waste in the environment,” said Stephan Sicars, Managing Director, Directorate of Environment and Energy at UNIDO. “This partnership with the Alliance will be an important catalyst for expanding access to circular technologies and business practices around the world.”

“We are honoured to work with world-class organisations to develop solutions that help end plastic waste in the environment. Our growing network reaffirms the importance of collective action to address this complex challenge on multiple fronts, while keeping our eye on the goal of achieving full circularity, augmented by practical measures in the interim,” said Jacob Duer, President and CEO of the Alliance. “We look forward to working closely with our like-minded partners and supporters to develop and accelerate scalable solutions that are economically self-sustaining.”

The Alliance now has a global network of over 90 members and partners.