Five firms in plastic pollution alliance made 1,000 times more plastic than they cleaned up'

Data from energy consultants Wood Mackenzie shows that the five leading companies within the AEPW produced a staggering 132 million tonnes of polyethylene and polypropylene plastic over the past five years. This figure starkly dwarfs their ambitious diversion goal of 15 million tonnes, revealing a gulf between their plastic production and waste management efforts. The AEPW has diverted only 118,500 tonnes of plastic waste from the environment, which is less than 1% of the amount they produced.

A key aim of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste appears to be steering public and regulatory attention away from straightforward bans of plastic materials, which were being considered globally amid rising concern about the environmental impact of plastic pollution. As the pervasiveness of plastics in the environment continued to draw scrutiny, the embrace of more nuanced and complex solutions from the AEPW served to shift focus and mitigate criticism towards the industry.

The early scrapping of the AEPW's target to divert 15 million tonnes of waste plastic from the environment is emblematic of the greenwashing accusations leveled at the alliance. Notably, the success and intentions of their efforts are in question, as industry leaders such as Bill McKibben label the alliance's actions as cheap greenwashing, illustrating the disparity between their promises and actual output.

The data and statistical revelations presented by Greenpeace highlight a fundamental contradiction within the AEPW's narrative of responsibility and action. While they set an ambitious public-facing target meant to address the ongoing plastic crisis, the overwhelming volumes of plastic produced by these companies represent a missed opportunity to genuinely curb plastic reliance and address environmental concerns.

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