In an industry first, the Plastic Reality Project will leverage experiential education to empower waste reduction practitioners worldwide
New York, United States – September 7th, 2022 – Today, rePurpose Global announced the launch of the Plastic Reality Project, a first-of-its-kind sustainability initiative dedicated to upskilling and arming corporate leaders and environmental practitioners with knowledge and experiences to help shape plastic reduction efforts towards reduced inefficiencies, broader inclusivity, and greater impact.
According to independent research by Gartner, 90% of sustainable packaging commitments set by global enterprises are not on track to be met by 2025, while WWF predicts that global plastic production will more than double by the end of the decade. To help bridge this gap between ambition and action, the Plastic Reality Project aims to upskill 5,000 sustainability leaders in the next five years on tackling plastic pollution through educational expeditions, corporate training programs, peer mentoring networks, and a competency-based certification scheme for individual professionals.
Launched with support from Sustainable Ocean Alliance and the GreenBiz Group, the inaugural Project will take place in September 2022 as a week-long expedition to two states across India: Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Over 20 leaders are expected to participate on behalf of organizations from across the ecosystem, including The World Economic Forum, Target, Emerson Collective, Riverside Natural Foods and Coca-Cola.
“As an environmental finance provider, we at rePurpose Global have evaluated hundreds of attempts to tackle plastic pollution across the globe in recent years, most of which have achieved limited success and scale,” Peter Wang Hjemdahl, Chief Advocacy Officer at rePurpose Global shared. “Through the Plastic Reality Project, we hope to turn this spotty track record around and empower sustainability decision-makers with the knowledge they need to reduce bias in evaluating solutions, make better impact investments, and ultimately accelerate our fight against the plastic epidemic.”
To date, rePurpose Global has supported over 10,000 waste innovators in implementing previously missing waste collection systems and plastic reduction infrastructure across 15 cities in India, Indonesia, Kenya, Colombia, and Ghana. As a result, the organization is catalyzing the diversion of over 14 million pounds of plastic waste away from ocean, nature and landfills, every year.
Craig Dudenhoeffer, Chief Innovation Officer at Sustainable Ocean Alliance, shared, “Marine plastic pollution is a complex reality that can be difficult to grasp, let alone solve. This new initiative from rePurpose very much aligns with SOA’s mission to create a global workforce dedicated to restoring ocean health, and brings impact leaders to the heart of the issue to instigate meaningful action.”
The Plastic Reality Project also attracted support from GreenBiz. Jon Smieja, VP of Circularity at GreenBiz stated, “GreenBiz’s mission is to accelerate the just transition to a clean economy, primarily through media and events. We’re excited to partner with rePurpose Global on the Plastic Reality Project – a unique and unparalleled initiative.”
ABOUT REPURPOSE GLOBAL
rePurpose Global is the world’s leading plastic action platform, dedicated to bringing together purposeful brands, innovators, and individuals under one roof to combat the plastic pollution crisis. Through its holistic ecosystem of solutions across the plastic value chain, the organization helps people and companies calculate, reduce, and balance their plastic footprint, while empowering innovators on the cutting edge of advancing a circular economy.
To date, rePurpose has been creating change in partnership with hundreds of companies across 26 countries, such as Grove Collaborative, AB InBev, Credit Suisse, Clorox, Google, and Colgate. On behalf of its global coalition, the organization is removing over 14 million pounds of plastic waste from nature every year, and in doing so, positively impacts the lives of 10,000+ marginalized waste workers and community members worldwide. To learn more, please visit the rePurpose Global website.
ABOUT SUSTAINABLE OCEAN ALLIANCE
SOA is a global organization created for youth – by youth – dedicated to restoring the health of the ocean in our lifetime. We were founded in 2014 by Daniela Fernandez during her first year of college, after she attended a United Nations meeting on climate change – and was stunned to realize none of the experts had a plan to stop it. Since then, SOA has grown into the world’s largest network of young ocean leaders, innovators, and policymakers, and we have accelerated 222 solutions to the greatest threats facing our ocean. These solutions include for-profit startups and community-led nonprofit projects around the world.
