PLASTIC REDUCTION. The Unilever team engaging and supporting waste worker partners from Cavite at a recent Walastik (Wise on Plastic) education session. Unilever, together with its partners in CIRCLE Alliance, will award grant to organizations with innovative plastic waste solutions. (Courtesy of Unilever)
MANILA – The Catalyzing Inclusive, Resilient, and Circular Local Economies (CIRCLE) Alliance has opened grant for organizations with programs and solutions in combating plastic waste in the country.
Founded by Unilever, the United States Agency for International Aid and Ernst and Young Global Ltd., CIRCLE Alliance is also extending the funding to organizations in other countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia that are promoting innovations in plastic waste collection, processing, and recycling.
“The momentum for solutions and collaborations to help fix the plastic waste issue is gaining even more speed. With the Circle Alliance across Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, Unilever is putting its expertise and networks to help build a fair and equitable circular economy for plastics in the Philippines and hopefully across Southeast Asia,” Unilever Philippines sustainability lead and CIRCLE Alliance lead for Southeast Asia Rondell Torres said in a statement Thursday.
Interested organizations and enterprises can submit their grant application until Oct. 4 through this link.
“CIRCLE’s collaborative model of enterprise acceleration, delivered through a mix of grant funding and bespoke business support, will help scale both new and existing solutions for packaging circularity, whether that’s driving collection and recycling, or reuse–refill models,” Unilever chief sustainability officer Rebecca Marmot said.
“Crucially, it will support small to medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs that offer impactful, market-based solutions but are currently too small to work at the scale we need,” she added.
This initiative is alongside Unilever’s efforts in reducing the use of virgin plastics and developing solutions for hard-to-recycle flexible plastic packaging materials, including sachets. (PNA)
