Mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is launching a plastic pollution battling scheme called ‘Sea The Future’ through his Minderoo Foundation, a global philanthropic organization. He is committing USD $300m (~€272m) to this new industry-focused initiative to end worldwide plastic waste. It’s projected to raise in excess of $20bn annually for global recycling, collection, and environmental remediation.
The $300m will be dispensed in increments with an upfront $40m in startup capital and then $1m per week for 260 weeks for a global body that would independently audit the scheme and funds raised from it. The projected $20bn in funds raised will be channeled into new recycling technologies, collection infrastructure, and the recovery, where possible, of existing marine and terrestrial pollution.
The scheme proposes that manufacturers of fossil-fuel-based plastics pay a voluntary financial contribution for every ton of virgin plastic they manufacturer. The rate would start at $200 per ton and, for the most difficult to recycle plastics, could be up to $5,000 per ton. The rate for recycled plastics, however, is zero. The intention being that by not having to pay a fee for using recycled plastic, it will drive the transition to use recycled plastics in production and stem the flow of waste into the world’s oceans and terrestrial spaces.
“If they elevate the price of bad plastic or fossil fuel plastic, then instantly what becomes commercial is all the plastic in the world which is currently known as waste,” Forrest said. Not only would plastic get recycled more, but the scheme could also have an impact on reducing the climate footprint of the global plastics industry by dissociating it from fossil fuels.
Forrest sees the transition to a circular economy that limits the production of single-use plastic and creates an end-use for plastic waste as an opportunity for big businesses. However, it’s an endeavor of grand proportions that needs government support and industry backing.
He 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.
There’s 7.5 billion people who consume plastic. They get that plastic distributed to them by tens of thousands of brands, from building products to fast-moving consumer goods like Coca-Cola [and] Nestlé. But there’s only really around 100 major resin producers for petrochemical/oil and gas companies who make plastic resin that need to come on side and that is manageable number.
Most of the 350 million plus tons of plastic produced every year are entering the world’s terrestrial and marine environment because current efforts to stem the increase in global plastic waste are disjointed and inadequate. Plastic costs humanity over $2.2 trillion a year in environmental and social damage, suggest todays best estimates.
This cost on our planet can decrease dramatically with Forrest’s scheme. The ‘Sea The Future’ initiative will attach a greater value to fossil-fuel plastics, and no cost to recycled plastic immediately making it a cheaper alternative feedstock and keeping it out of the oceans and terrestrial environments. The initiative has already been launched at the United Nations Headquarters in New York with governments, NGOs and major companies – many of which were in attendance – have expressed support for the initiative.
Dr. M. Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International, said:
This bold yet attainable industry-driven solution is exactly what is needed to match the scale of the problem. Adopting this initiative can help ensure we have #NoPlasticWaste in our lifetime. After all, no one company or country wants to shoulder the burden on their own. The Sea The Future initiative brings us all together to be the solution our environment demands.
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.
When Forrest was first developing the proposal, he went around the world talking to major manufacturers of plastics about it. At the end of the day, major producers and users of plastics in the global supply chain such as Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Unilever have responded positively to the initiative.
Alan Jope, the chief executive of Unilever PLC said:
The protection of our oceans is fundamental to the preservation and flourishing of life on Earth. At Unilever we are committed to ending ocean plastic and we welcome cross-industry initiatives, like the Minderoo Foundation’s, that is looking across the value chain to identify scalable solutions.
Now, it is unknown if the companies are really willing to pay as none have confirmed they would. Only time will tell how many will actually contribute to this initiative and how many just say it’s a nice idea.
