Alliance to End Plastic Waste expands footprint into Gulf, targeting circular economy scale-up

GCC – The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) has launched a new country program across the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), marking a strategic expansion into one of the world’s fastest-investing regions for plastics, petrochemicals and waste management infrastructure.

Covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the program signals what the Singapore-based industry alliance describes as a “new chapter” in its global efforts to reduce plastic waste and accelerate circular economy solutions.

The Alliance said the initiative is expected to help position the Gulf as a global hub of circular economy excellence by cutting landfill volumes and scaling recycling and waste management systems.

According to AEPW, the Gulf offers a uniquely favourable ecosystem for advancing plastics circularity, combining strong industrial participation, increasingly supportive policy frameworks and project models that can be replicated across countries with similar economic structures and geographies.

All six GCC states, alongside neighbouring Jordan, have rolled out national strategies to address plastic waste and are investing in collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure.

The announcement comes shortly after AEPW unveiled a new systems-change strategy, shifting its focus from dispersed pilot projects to large-scale, blended-finance country programs.

Initial rollouts under this approach are underway in India, Indonesia and South Africa, where coordinated public-private investment is being used to transform waste management systems at national scale.

While the Alliance has yet to clarify how the Gulf program will align structurally with this strategy, it confirmed that partnerships with national governments and alignment with existing policies will be central to implementation.

Alongside country programs, AEPW is also rolling out thematic initiatives designed to address specific gaps in plastics circularity.

The first of these will focus on films and flexibles, among the least recycled plastic formats globally.

Pilot projects under this program will initially be deployed in Europe and North America, leveraging mature waste management systems, strong extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations and access to capital for advanced recycling trials.

Founded in 2019 by leading plastics and consumer goods companies including LyondellBasell, BASF, Dow, ExxonMobil, Shell and Procter & Gamble, the Alliance now counts more than 50 members across the plastics value chain and employs around 80 people globally.

To date, it has supported over 80 projects worldwide and allocated US$289 million to mission-related activities.

In 2023 alone, AEPW reported a reduction of 79,801 metric tonnes of unmanaged plastic waste, bringing its cumulative impact to 118,580 tonnes. It also valorised 89,132 tonnes of plastic through recycling and other recovery pathways during the year.

The GCC expansion aligns with a broader regional push, as governments and industry players increase investment in recycling plants, chemical recycling pilots and circular packaging initiatives.

For the Alliance, establishing a presence in the Gulf strengthens its engagement with a region that sits at the intersection of plastics production, consumption and emerging circular economy leadership.

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