New Unilever-Led Collaboration Targets Plastic Pollution Solutions

Unilever has taken a major step forward to help curb the scourge of plastic waste with the launch of the CIRCLE Alliance (Catalyzing Inclusive, Resilient, and Circular Local Economies), a new public–private initiative aimed at tackling plastic pollution founded in collaboration with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ernst & Young (EY).

The group was created to scale solutions that reduce plastic use and tackle plastic waste, support entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain, and specifically support women’s economic empowerment, improve livelihoods, and protect the environment by accelerating the development of circular economies.

Citing the challenging link between packaging and plastic pollution, Rebecca Marmot, Unilever’s chief sustainability officer, says the CIRCLE Alliance approaches the issue from the ground up with a unified plan to end to plastic pollution through reduction, circulation, and collaboration.

She says CIRCLE’s collaborative model is supported by grant funding and bespoke business support that will fund new and existing solutions for packaging circularity, "whether that’s driving collection and recycling, or reuse-refill models," adding that it will support small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs "that offer impactful, market-based solutions but are currently too small to work at the scale we need.”

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Details on the alliance's funding and role.

The Alliance was founded with a $21 million investment, which includes a cash contribution from Unilever’s Climate & Nature Fund, an impact-led investment platform through which the company is investing $1.1 billion by 2030 to deliver positive impact and business benefits, and builds on the CPG giant’s Transform sustainable and equitable business model platform accelerator.  

It is supported by USAID’s EDGE Fund, a seed fund designed to leverage the private sector, and by the GEEA Fund, which is committed to the advancement of economic security for women and girls by increasing their access to resources, services, and leadership opportunities and by addressing the barriers that limit their ability to participate fully in the economy.

CIRCLEis also part of the US government-led Women in the Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative, which aims to bolster women’s economic empowerment globally by expanding access to employment, training, leadership roles, and financial resources in the industries. CIRCLE’s initial focus is on the pollution hubs in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, where it will provide country-specific grant funding and tailored technical assistance from 2024 through 2029. Expansion to other markets will happen with the contribution of additional investment funds.

The CIRCLE Alliance will also be the flagship public-private collaboration under USAID’s Save Our Seas Initiative, a global initiative to combat ocean plastic pollution.

“The CIRCLE Alliance brings together USAID’s experience in empowering women in plastic waste value chains and our long-standing relationships with national and local governments–and of course, with civil society,” says Samantha Power, USAID administrator. She lauded Unilever's role and knowledge in plastic supply chains and EY's experience in providing professional support to businesses.