Unilever, USAID, and EY have launched the CIRCLE Alliance, a $21 million public-private initiative designed to address plastic pollution. The alliance aims to support entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain in reducing plastic use and advancing circular economies.
The CIRCLE Alliance will focus on scaling solutions that combat plastic waste, with a particular emphasis on women, who are predominantly involved in waste collection in the informal sector of the global south. Initial efforts will target India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, with plans to extend to other markets as additional funds and organizations come on board.
Rebecca Marmot, Unilever’s Chief Sustainability Officer, emphasized the importance of the alliance’s collaborative approach. “CIRCLE’s model of enterprise acceleration will help scale both new and existing solutions for packaging circularity, whether that’s through improved collection and recycling or reuse-refill models,” Marmot said. “Crucially, it will support many small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs currently too small to operate at the necessary scale.”
The initiative builds on the successful TRANSFORM accelerator, which was established by Unilever, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and EY. The CIRCLE Alliance will receive funding from Unilever’s Climate & Nature Fund, part of a broader €1 billion investment aimed at systemic change in product manufacturing and disposal.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power highlighted the collaborative strength of the alliance. “The CIRCLE Alliance combines USAID’s expertise in empowering women in plastic waste value chains with Unilever’s knowledge of plastic supply chains and EY’s professional support capabilities,” Power said during the launch at Capitol Hill Ocean Week.
Gillian Hinde, EY Global Corporate Responsibility Leader, added, “The CIRCLE Alliance represents a bold model of public-private collaboration to foster innovation and scale market-based solutions to plastic pollution, while creating jobs that respect workers’ rights, especially women.”