The Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty

Response to the Nice Declaration and the Chair’s draft text in preparation for INC5.2

The Nice Ministerial Declaration affirmed a shared political will among governments to end plastic pollution through a legally binding global treaty. The Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty (IAGPT) welcomes this momentum and underscores that this ambition must be matched with the right tools to deliver it.

The IAGPT brings together innovators, ecosystem enablers, technology solution providers, members of the scientific community, and waste management organizations with the shared goal of advancing innovative solutions to combat global plastic pollution, aiming for zero plastic pollution by 2040. Our members work on solutions spanning the entire plastic action value chain, including refill/reuse models for waste reduction, waste management service providers, technology solutions for waste, alternative materials as well as waterway cleanup solutions.

Despite the emergence of numerous innovative solutions that have shown potential in reducing plastic waste, there remains a disconnect between these innovations and global policy making. Previous international environmental agreements often overlooked the insights and needs of these innovators, leading to missed opportunities for impactful regulatory frameworks. The IAGPT seeks to bridge this gap, ensuring that the Global Plastics Treaty is not just promising in theory but also effective in practice. By integrating innovators into the decision-making process, the alliance aims to drive collective progress and accelerate systems change across the entire plastic pollution lifecycle, from source to sea.


The Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty (IAGPT), convened by rePurpose Global and The Ocean Cleanup, consisting of over 100 member organizations globally, is committed to advancing the role of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship in the UN Global Plastics Treaty with the aim of accelerating systems change across the entire plastic pollution lifecycle from source to sea.

I. Commendation on the Nice Wake Up Call

Last month’s Nice Ministerial Declaration signed by 95 countries delivered a strong political signal: UN Member States overwhelmingly support a legally binding treaty that tackles plastic pollution across its full life cycle. The Innovation Alliance for a Global Plastics Treaty (IAGPT) welcomes the momentum and echoes the call for ambitious, pragmatic action that includes the innovators already driving change on the ground.

The IAGPT aligns with several positions outlined in the Nice Wake Up Call including

  • Emphasizing the need for ‘new and additional financing’ to support ‘efficient implementation’. The IAGPT calls for innovative and outcomes-based financing which will be critical to support and scale on-the-ground solutions.

  • Reaffirming the ‘full lifecycle of plastics’ approach is necessary, as the IAGPT recognizes that solutions must occur throughout the value chain, and include upstream, midstream and downstream interventions.

  • Calling for a treaty that is ‘responsive to changes in emerging evidence and knowledge’, as the IAGPT recognizes the large amount of data and insights gathered by innovators on the ground and that can be used to develop effective implementation plans.

II. Recommendations for the Global Plastics Treaty

Our fight against plastic pollution is multifaceted, and while the Zero Draft has made significant strides, we recommend the inclusion of four key areas to ensure a holistic approach, specifically to enable scalable and replicable innovations across diverse country contexts.  These four recommendations make up IAGPT’s Vision Statement. 

1. Enhancing Financial Access for Innovators

Financial constraints significantly hinder the rapid deployment and scaling of innovative solutions, particularly in emerging markets/ high-risk country contexts with limited access to financing. Improving access to flexible financing and establishing clear funding mechanisms for innovation enables innovators to scale solutions and address plastic pollution. IAGPT recommends:

  • Exploring financial mechanisms to scale and replicate innovative solutions, such as

    • Ending fossil fuel subsidies for petrochemicals and taxing virgin plastic production and use, redirecting those funds to galvanize uptake of refill/reuse solutions and alternatives to virgin plastic and implement efficient plastic waste management systems

    • Developing and implementing extended producer responsibility mechanisms

  • Facilitating flexible financing opportunities by simplifying funding procedures, enabling smaller ticket sizes for funding, and allowing for nimble funding allocation

  • Promoting financing mechanisms that incentivize verified avoidance, removal, and recovery of plastic waste, thereby linking funds with  measurable impacts against plastic pollution within the Treaty. This can help systematically advance plastic pollution prevention infrastructure in SIDS, LDCs, and other low and middle-income countries.

  • Refocusing the goals of funds to prioritize impact over financial returns

2. Recognition, Safeguarding, and Integration of Existing Innovations
Innovators worldwide have been at the forefront of combating plastic waste. As the UN moves towards proposing  a regulatory framework, it is crucial that these existing solutions are not only recognized but also integrated and safeguarded within global and national action plans and  evolving corporate frameworks.  The IAGPT recommends the following approaches:

  • Recognizing and integrating a wide array of existing innovations that promote reduction of plastic production and redesign of single-use materials for recovery, including non-plastic substitutes; refillable/reusable materials and systems; collection and recycling including low-value plastics; and plastic waste cleanup operations on land and in waterways

  • Promoting the Technology Neutrality Principle to ensure the Treaty does not favor or discriminate against any technology, but rather, sets goals and standards that allows innovative approaches to achieve the desired impact of tackling plastic pollution

  • Ensuring the inclusion of marginalized voices and informal workers, who are integral within the global plastic waste management chain

3. Leverage Data from the Innovation Ecosystem

The innovation ecosystem houses a comprehensive repository of data that can guide pragmatic policy development and implementation.  By harnessing this data, informed decisions can be grounded in real-world insights and experiences.  The IAGPT emphasizes the importance of:

  • Ensuring that the practical insights from innovators’ operations are solicited and considered in the policy development process

  • Utilizing data from technology solutions and innovations on the ground to guide policy creation and monitor compliance, for example by publishing a handbook of existing technologies and their real world quantitative and qualitative impacts

  • Exploring the possibility of setting up a Plastic Pollution Research and Data Integration Center in collaboration with innovators



4. Prioritize Scalable and Inclusive Approaches

The complexity of plastic pollution demands targeted, scalable, and inclusive solutions. Recognizing that not all efforts yield equal results, the IAGPT advocates for:

  • Identifying and prioritizing the best environmentally efficient, cost-effective, socially inclusive, and scalable strategies for tackling specific elements of the plastic pollution problem

  • Bolstering promising solutions within regulatory frameworks to not only safeguard and incorporate these technologies into national and global action plans but also amplify their effectiveness against plastic pollution

In addition to the aforementioned recommendations, the IAGPT calls for further clarity and specification on:

  • Defining targets, such as establishing binding targets and timelines for Member States to reduce the production and consumption of avoidable plastic products, promote minimum recycled content mandates for packaging, implement producer responsibility schemes, and mandate material footprinting accountability protocols

  • Precise definitions impacting the innovation sector, including but not limited to “plastics”, "problematic plastic products", “legacy oceanic plastic pollution”, “riverine plastic emissions”, “non-plastic alternatives”, and "bioplastics" to avoid loopholes and ensure streamlined understanding of these terminologies across the board

  • Mechanisms to build awareness of the comprehensive financial implications of plastic production and waste management to address green premiums linked to circular solutions. The goal is to help  internalize negative externalities and create a level playing field between virgin materials, alternatives, and circular solutions by factoring in true costs and environmental impacts.

  • Meaningful accountability, monitoring & evaluation (M&E), and financing structures at national, regional, and global levels to systematically develop plastic pollution prevention infrastructure

III. Specific recommendations on the Chair’s draft text

Considering the current Chair’s draft text, which was proposed following the closing of INC5.1 in Busan, the IAGPT supports;

  • Finance is elevated as a core article, with alternative proposals on the table - from GEF backing to a standalone fund under the conference of the parties .

  • Broader lifecycle coverage now includes leakage, waste management and remediation though obligations range from voluntary to legally binding.

  • The recognition of existing workers and small and medium enterprises within the article on just transition.

IV. Looking ahead to INC-5.2 in Geneva

With just weeks until negotiators reconvene in Geneva for INC-5.2, the IAGPT is doubling down on engagement. We’ll be on the ground to ensure that innovation remains embedded in both the text and the implementation architecture of the treaty. The treaty cannot succeed without a robust ecosystem of problem solvers. That means policies that enable innovation at scale and support ongoing, proven solutions. 

 The IAGPT  remains committed to work with governments and stakeholders and further share knowledge, data, and experience of innovators to support the negotiation process of the UN Global Plastics Treaty.

For more, download our vision statement or our recent collaboration on a seminal  report on outcomes-based financing.