Kimberly-Clark, PEMSEA, The Coca-Cola Company and The DOW Chemical Company join Closed Loop Ocean to Reduce Ocean Plastics

Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) is the first intergovernmental organization to formally join the initiative

 

New York -- Closed Loop Partners announced today that corporate leaders KimberlyClark, The Coca-Cola Company and The Dow Chemical Company and intergovernmental organization PEMSEA are the latest partners to join Closed Loop Ocean, an initiative to develop a new funding mechanism to prevent plastic waste from leaking into the world’s oceans. These leaders join this collaborative initiative in partnership with Closed Loop Partners, Ocean Conservancy, the Trash Free Seas Alliance, 3M, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council and the World Plastics Council.

 

Closed Loop Ocean, announced at the Our Ocean 2017 conference in Malta, is designed to identify, develop and facilitate investments in waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on improving collection, sorting and recycling markets. Additional information and opportunities to partner available online.

 

Research indicates that nearly half of the plastic that flows into the ocean every year – an estimated 8 million metric tons – escapes from waste streams in just five rapidly developing economies in Asia. As a result, the initiative focuses on galvanizing investment in waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia and India. Over the coming months, Closed Loop Ocean will narrow its geographic focus, define investment criteria, build its network of partners, and begin to identify potential investments.

 

According to Rob Kaplan, Managing Director of Closed Loop Partners, “Solving the problem of ocean bound plastics will require significant investment and partnership from brands and supply chain leaders. Partnership with our coalition of companies who have operations in these markets and with PEMSEA, a regional intergovernmental body with local knowledge and experience in SE Asia will help us bring in additional investors, understand the local market and supply chain dynamics and develop an investment strategy that unlocks the key bottlenecks holding back the recycling system in SE Asia and India.”

 

About Closed Loop Partners

Closed Loop Partners invests in sustainable consumer goods, advanced recycling technologies and the development of the circular economy.