Alliance to End Plastic Waste Publishes 2025 Progress Report Highlighting First-Year Progress Under Strategy 2030

Alliance to End Plastic Waste today published its 2025 Progress Report, “Strategy in Action”, covering the first year of implementation of Strategy 2030. The report highlights the initial progress made in overcoming systemic barriers to circularity and accelerating the transition to a circular economy for plastics.

In 2025, the Alliance reduced the amount of unmanaged plastic waste by 138,162 tonnes and converted 165,317 tonnes of plastic waste into economic value. As a result, the total amount reduced since its founding has reached 378,147 tonnes, while the amount converted into economic value has reached 418,529 tonnes. Beyond tonnage, since 2019 the Alliance has enabled third parties and impact investors to commit 641 million US dollars in funding. Education and behavior change initiatives have reached more than 1.5 million people since the organization's founding. In 2025, the Alliance collaborated with 559 organizations to fund, develop, and implement its projects. Under Strategy 2030, the Alliance is shifting from smaller, independent projects to larger-scale, integrated Country and Thematic Programs. It is concentrating its efforts in areas where it can have the greatest impact: helping countries raise their recycling maturity levels and addressing complex, cross-market issues such as flexible plastics. In 2025, the Alliance deepened its partnerships with a range of stakeholders to scale impact, co-fund initiatives, and deliver scalable, replicable plastic circularity solutions. Jacob Duer, President and CEO of Alliance to End Plastic Waste, said, "2025 was an important first year for Strategy 2030, as we strengthened the foundations for impact and systems change at scale. We are seeing initial results in the markets where the need is greatest; however, delivering solutions with greater and lasting impact requires sustained effort, strong partnerships, and commitment. We made significant progress this year, and we are building momentum for the years ahead."

Country Programs: Establishing waste management systems where they are needed most

The Alliance's Country Programs help countries develop their recycling systems by improving collection, sorting, and recycling while also strengthening demand for recycled materials. Programs are currently being carried out in Brazil, the Gulf Cooperation Council region (Saudi Arabia), India, Indonesia, and South Africa. Under the Solid Waste Management for Sustainable Urban Development (SWM-SUD) project of the Government of Indonesia and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Alliance is supporting system-level change by scaling solutions through coordinated interventions across the waste management system. In 2025, the Alliance launched an integrated waste management pilot in the Malang administrative region of East Java, combining source segregation, improved collection and sorting, and stronger links with local recycling businesses. Committing up to 40 million US dollars to replicate the principles of the Malang pilot across multiple SWM-SUD cities and administrative regions, the Alliance is helping to scale integrated waste management systems and advance plastic circularity across Indonesia. In India, in partnership with municipal authorities in Mathura-Vrindavan, a municipal waste processing facility funded by the Alliance has been established. The facility is currently operating at 75% capacity and is expected to process up to 300 tonnes of waste per day, preventing 80% of the city's waste from being sent to landfill.

Thematic Program focusing on a market-driven approach to flexible plastics

The Alliance's Thematic Programs address cross-market barriers to circularity, starting with flexible plastics, which are among the most widely used yet hardest-to-recycle materials. In 2025, the Alliance advanced projects in Europe and North America under the Flexible Plastics Program. A market-driven strategy was implemented, starting from end-market needs, to ensure that solutions are developed around economically sustainable markets. This means aligning the waste management system—from collection and sorting through to recycling—with end-market requirements.

The Alliance is putting this approach into practice in Phoenix, Arizona, through a new collection model for flexible plastics from commercial and industrial facilities. The project, carried out with RME Defeats Waste, provides on-site baling and on-demand collection services to smaller waste generators, including manufacturers and hospitals, that do not produce enough material volume to make traditional collection economically viable. This creates a practical recycling pathway that did not previously exist. The Alliance also commissioned a study of the US flexible plastics system to map supply and demand and quantify end-market opportunities for recycled flexible plastics.

Mobilizing capital to accelerate systems change

Mobilizing capital remains one of the biggest barriers to building a circular economy for plastics at scale. Over the past year, the Alliance continued to expand its catalytic role in circular plastics investment by using its capital and expertise to de-risk projects, strengthen its portfolio of investment projects, and secure broader funding from public, private sector, and philanthropic partners.

The Plastic Circularity Strategy, managed by Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) and which the Alliance helped establish by providing seed funding and technical advisory support, reached its final fund close in summer 2026. The Strategy continues to make growth capital investments in companies developing solutions that advance plastic circularity. These companies include Spain-based Fych Technologies, which recycles complex multilayer plastics through its patented process, and Switzerland-based Bloom Biorenewables, which converts non-edible biomass into bio-based chemicals and materials.

For more information, you can read Alliance to End Plastic Waste's 2025 Progress Report, "Strategy in Action."

[1] All tonnage figures stated are in metric tonnes.