Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit launch Innovation Prize

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit have announced the launch of the $2 million (£1.5 million) New Plastics Economy Prize, which calls for innovators to find new ways of keeping plastics out of the world’s oceans.

Demand for plastic products is expected to double within the next 20 years, but currently only 14 per cent of plastics packaging is collected for recycling, whereas the remainder, worth up to $120 billion (£92 billion), is lost as waste.

The majority of plastic products are only used once before being discarded, and these usually end up polluting the environment.

If these rates stay the same, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, and the new prize aims to stop this by keeping plastics as a valuable material in the economy, and keep it out of the ocean.

Ellen MacArthur, world-record breaking sailor and founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, said: “After 40 years of effort, globally only 14 per cent of plastic packaging is collected for recycling, with one third escaping collection and ending up in the environment. If we want to change this, we must fundamentally rethink the way we make and use plastics. We need better materials, clever product designs, and circular business models. That’s why we are launching the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize, calling for innovators, designers, scientists, and entrepreneurs to help create a plastics system that works.”

The Innovation Prize consists of two parallel challenges, both offering $1 million (£767,000) rewards.

The $1 million Circular Design Challenge, partnered with OpenIDEO invites applicants to rethink how products can make their way to people without generating plastic waste.

The challenge will focus on small-format packaging items (which make up 10 per cent of all plastic packaging) such as shampoo sachets, wrappers, and straws, which are currently almost never recycled and regularly end up in the environment.

The $1 million Circular Materials Challenge, partnered with NineSigma seeks for ways to make all plastic packaging recyclable.

Around 13 per cent of all packaging, such as crisp packets and food wrappers, is made of layers of different materials fused together, and this multi-layer construction makes the packaging extremely hard to recycle.

The challenge is therefore looking for innovators to find alternative materials that can be recycled or composted.

People who apply for the Prize will be competing for up to $2 million in grants, and visibility of their solutions to major businesses, the innovator community, and the public.

The winners will be entered into a 12-month accelerator programme offering exclusive access to industry experts, commercial guidance, feedback on user and scalability requirements, advice on performance expectations, and access to innovation labs for testing and development.

The Prince of Wales, who has championed the health resilience of the ocean for over 40 years, will deliver a keynote speech at the launch event.

At an event earlier in the year with business leaders, designers, and material experts, Prince Charles emphasised the urgency of the need to rethink the global plastics system, and highlighted the important role of innovation and design in the transition to a circular economy in order to stem the flow of plastics in the ocean.

Another high-profile figure in support of the New Plastics Economy Innovation Prize was John Kerry, former US Secretary of State, who said: “Focussing on ocean health and an initiative to save the oceans could not be more timely, and it could not be more critical.”

The challenge’s judging panel consists of senior executives from major businesses, as well as widely recognised scientists, designers, and academics.

Entries will be assessed against a broad range of criteria carefully crafted in collaboration with the challenge partners and participants of the New Plastics Economy Initiative.

Wendy Schmidt, Lead Philanthropic Partner of the New Plastics Economy Initiative, said: “Working towards circularity in the way we make, use, and distribute plastic packaging will revolutionise the scale of the human footprint on our planet, hugely reducing plastic waste and its devastating impact on ocean health. The value of keeping materials in the economy is massive compared to the losses we suffer when plastics leak into the very living systems we depend on for our survival. The New Plastics Economy Prize is a call for creative design and technical innovation at a critical time.”