AEPW 2025: Plastic Circularity Strategy Moves Into Action

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste has entered a more ambitious phase of its work. Its newly released 2025 Progress Report presents the first year of Strategy 2030, a plastic circularity strategy designed to move beyond isolated projects and develop integrated waste-management systems that can attract investment and operate at scale.

Published on September 9, 2026, the report says the Alliance reduced 138,162 tonnes of unmanaged plastic waste during 2025 and “valorised” 165,317 tonnes by returning material to productive use or extracting value from it. Since the organization began operating in 2019, its reported totals have reached 378,147 tonnes of unmanaged plastic waste reduced and 418,529 tonnes valorised.

These figures are substantial, but they should be read precisely. “Valorised” is broader than “recycled” and may cover different processes that recover value from waste. The results are also reported by the Alliance itself. They offer evidence of operational progress, while detailed and consistently disclosed verification will remain important for assessing long-term environmental outcomes.  Plastic circularity strategy

From individual projects to connected systems

The central change under Strategy 2030 is structural. Instead of supporting mainly smaller, standalone projects, the Alliance is organizing its work through Country Programs and Thematic Programs.

Country Programs connect collection, sorting, recycling, public policy, community participation and demand for recycled materials within selected markets. Programs were advanced in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa during 2025.

Thematic Programs address barriers that appear across several countries. The first concentrates on flexible plastics in Europe and North America. Films, pouches and other flexible packaging are lightweight and useful, but their mixed materials, low value and collection difficulties make them some of the hardest products to recycle economically.

This broader approach reflects an important lesson: installing recycling equipment is not enough. A viable circular system also needs reliable supplies of separated waste, buyers for the resulting material, suitable regulations, trained workers and financing that can continue after initial grant support ends.  Plastic circularity strategy

Indonesia and India demonstrate the model

In Indonesia, the Alliance launched an integrated waste-management pilot in Malang Regency, East Java. It combines separation at source, improved collection and sorting, and stronger links with local recyclers.

The work forms part of Indonesia’s Solid Waste Management for Sustainable Urban Development initiative, supported by the national government and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The Alliance says it has committed up to US$40 million to apply lessons from Malang across additional participating cities and regencies.

India provides another example. In Mathura-Vrindavan, an Alliance-financed municipal facility is operating at approximately 75% of capacity. It is expected to process as much as 300 tonnes of mixed municipal waste per day and divert up to 80% of the city’s waste from landfill.

The significance of these projects lies in their integration with municipal services. If performance is sustained and independently documented, they could offer models that other cities can adapt rather than copy blindly.

Building higher-value recycling markets

Several projects focus on improving the quality and commercial value of recycled plastic.

In Central Java, the Alliance helped finance a facility intended to produce food-grade recycled PET for new bottles. The facility is expected to become fully operational in 2027. In Kenya, financing helped the family-owned company T3 acquire a recycling line capable of producing higher-quality, bottle-grade PET resin.

South Africa is another priority market. The Alliance funded new and upgraded equipment at Eco Renew Recyclers to expand the processing of low-density polyethylene, commonly used in films and bags. The project is also supported through an outcome-based facility from a commercial bank.

These investments recognize that circularity depends on demand. Recycled material must meet the technical, safety and price requirements of manufacturers. Otherwise, collected plastic can accumulate without a dependable market.  Plastic circularity strategy

Flexible plastics require a market-led solution

The Alliance’s Flexibles Program starts with the needs of end markets and works backwards through recycling, sorting and collection. This is a practical response to a persistent problem: collection programs cannot survive if recyclers cannot sell their output.

In Phoenix, Arizona, the Alliance is working with RME Defeats Waste on a collection model for smaller commercial and industrial sites. On-site baling and on-demand pickups allow businesses such as manufacturers and hospitals to combine quantities that would otherwise be too small for economical collection.

The Alliance has also commissioned research into supply, demand and potential markets for recycled flexible plastics in the United States. This type of market mapping can help prevent investment in capacity that lacks suitable feedstock or customers.  Plastic circularity strategy

People remain part of the infrastructure

The report does not treat circularity solely as a machinery problem. In South Africa, support for the African Reclaimers Organisation is intended to strengthen the role and working conditions of informal waste reclaimers.

In Tanzania, assistance to the Juza Waste Pickers Initiative has supported work in sorting, recycling and transportation while helping the organization sell processed plastic bales to local manufacturers.

Waste pickers frequently provide collection and recovery services where formal systems are incomplete. Integrating them fairly can improve material recovery while protecting livelihoods. Success should therefore be measured through income, safety and social inclusion as well as tonnes collected.  Plastic circularity strategy

Mobilizing capital for plastic circularity

The Alliance reports that it has helped catalyse US$641 million in funding commitments from third parties and impact investors since 2019. It engaged 559 organizations in financing, developing or implementing projects during 2025, while its education and behaviour-change initiatives have reached more than 1.5 million people since inception.

Its financing role includes using early capital and technical expertise to reduce project risk. One example is the Plastic Circularity Strategy managed by Lombard Odier Investment Managers. The fund reached its final close in summer 2026 and has invested in businesses including Fych Technologies, which processes complex multilayer plastics, and Bloom Biorenewables, which develops materials and chemicals from non-food biomass.

Capital mobilization is valuable, but commitments are not the same as money deployed or environmental impact delivered. Future reporting will be strongest when it distinguishes clearly among committed, invested and operating capital and links each category to verified results.  Plastic circularity strategy

Why the report matters now

The global context remains difficult. OECD data show that only 9% of the 353 million tonnes of plastic waste generated in 2019 was ultimately recycled. UNEP now warns that annual plastic waste could approach 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060 without stronger intervention.

International policy has not yet produced a completed global plastics treaty. UNEP states that the February 2026 negotiating session dealt only with organizational matters and held no substantive negotiations. As of September 10, 2026, preparations are continuing for another negotiating session.

That uncertainty increases the importance of credible action by governments, communities, investors and industry. It also makes transparency essential. The Alliance includes companies involved in plastics production and use, so readers and policymakers should expect clear definitions, independent assurance and disclosure of both successful and unsuccessful projects.

The 2025 report’s most useful message is that plastic pollution cannot be solved by collection drives alone. Durable progress requires less unnecessary material, better product design, reliable public services, inclusive employment, commercially viable recycling and policies that make producers accountable.

AEPW’s plastic circularity strategy is beginning to assemble those components. Its real test will be whether today’s pilots and financing commitments develop into lasting systems that prevent pollution, reduce demand for virgin materials and continue working without permanent external support.

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AEPW 2025 Progress Report page, AEPW report announcement, UNEP plastics-treaty negotiations, and OECD Global Plastics Outlook.