USAID partners to combat plastic pollution in India, Vietnam, others

By Blessing Chinagorom

USAID, Unilever and EY have launched Circle Alliance, a new public-private collaboration to support entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain to scale solutions that reduce plastic use, tackle plastic waste, and build thriving circular economies.

According to the statement released by the Agency on Thursday, stating that with initial, planned investment of $21 million, initiative aims to protect the environment and improve livelihoods by supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses, focusing on women, who make up the majority of waste collectors in the global south.

It also added that the CIRCLE Alliance will initially focus on India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines and aims to scale and expand by bringing in new organizations and additional funds.  

The initiative was launched by USAID Administrator, Samantha Power, the Unilever Chief Sustainability Officer, Rebecca Marmot, and EY Global Vice Chair-Sustainability Amy Brachio, with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Dan Sullivan, the co-sponsors of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. 

Plastic pollution, a mounting global problem, impacts our environment, food security, and economies.

According to UN Environment Programme, an estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic enters ocean every year, a rate that is expected to triple in the next 20 years without urgent action. 

CIRCLE is supported by USAID’s EDGE Fund, a seed fund designed to leverage the private sector’s expertise in confronting some of the most significant challenges of our time.
And by the GEEA Fund, which is committed to the advancement of economic security for women and girls by increasing their access to resources, services, and leadership opportunities and by addressing the barriers that limit their ability to participate fully in the economy.

CIRCLE is part of the U.S. government-led Women in the Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative, which aims to bolster women’s economic empowerment by the expanding access to employment, training, leadership roles, and financial resources in industries critical to our future and the future of our planet.

The CIRCLE Alliance will be the flagship public-private collaboration under USAID’s Save Our Seas Initiative, a global initiative to combat ocean plastic pollution in support of the landmark Save Our Seas 2.0 Act of 2020.

It was stated that today’s event also marked the two-year anniversary of the “Save Our Seas” Initiative, to continue to bolster these efforts, Administrator Power highlighted that USAID plans to invest additional $10.9m in Clean Cities, Blue Ocean program, USAID’s flagship program under the Save Our Seas Initiative.

This funding includes a contribution of $750,000 from the Government of Norway and was previously announced for USAID’s Save Our Seas Initiative at the Our Ocean Conference and on Earth Day.

To date, USAID’s programs have prevented approximately 1.2 million metric tons of plastic from leaking into the environment (the equivalent of 127 billion plastic bottles), improved solid waste services for 11.3million people, catalyzed $138.7 million of private sector and public funding commitments for solid waste management and recycling.