Packaging industry associations from Germany and France have welcomed the foundation of the new "Alliance to End Plastic Waste" as an important step in the battle against marine plastic pollution. The new alliance of major industrial groups plans to invest $1.5bn in projects, primarily in Asia, which aim to end the leakage of plastic waste into the environment.
The organisations IK and Elipso believe that the new Alliance has greater potential to "control waste streams for the benefit of the environment" than do other planned measures to cut plastic waste, such as those in the EU's proposed Single Use Plastics Directive, which is currently nearing adoption.
"The planned cooperation beyond the cross-value chain and the financial resources are methods that promise success. The value of plastics must go hand in hand with the value of plastic waste. This will be possible by developing the necessary infrastructure and intensive public education,” said Jürgen Bruder, general manager of IK.
His counterpart at Elipso, general manager Emmanuel Guichard, said "The European plastics packaging industry is fully prepared to contribute to innovations, resource protection and improvement of the circular economy. We appreciate the commitment of the Alliance and are ready to support it as a partner”.
