The Minderoo Foundation, a global philanthropic organisation, has announced a $300 million commitment to a new industry-focused initiative to end plastic waste worldwide.
The initiative, called ‘Sea The Future’, is projected to raise in excess of $20 billion annually for global recycling, collection, and environmental remediation.
Andrew Forrest, Founder and Chairman of Minderoo Foundation, said: “Industry, fully supported by governments and regulators, is the only sector that can drive the urgent, global shift needed to save our oceans from plastic waste.”
“This existential threat requires a global solution able to transcend borders, politics, and corporate responsibility. We have less than five years to make this happen.”
“Only a broadly adopted, international industry-led approach will keep plastics in the economy and out of the environment.”
The initiative was launched at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The initiative will attach a greater value to fossil fuel plastics, through a voluntary contribution payable on plastics produced from fossil fuels.
The voluntary contribution is not payable on recycled plastics, immediately making it a cheaper alternative feedstock.
This drives demand that dominoes through the value chain and turns plastic waste into a cashable commodity, driving collection efforts, poverty alleviation through dignified world, and recycling.
Andrew Morlet, CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said: “This Minderoo Foundation initiative represents exactly the type of systemic thinking needed to build a circular economy, by creating value for used plastic and helping decouple our economy from fossil fuels.”
“It’s well-aligned with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s vision to eliminate the plastics we don’t need and to circulate those we do. Together we can make plastic pollution a thing of the past.”