Last week, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) made a landmark decision as 175 countries agreed to establish a legally-binding Global Plastics Treaty.

The largest multilateral international agreement saw on the entire plastics value chain, ‘from source to sea,’ this treaty holds the potential to generate a huge surge of demand for innovation.

While the final agreement will not be ready for another two years, it is already referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement for plastics’, about the COP21 treaty that agrees to limit global warming to ‘well below’ 2°C.

This treaty represents a huge opportunity for global cooperation but more than that. It charts a clearer path for entrepreneurs looking to solve the urgent issue of the plastic pollution crisis.

The need for this is clear in Southeast Asia, where the abundantly visible plastic pollution crisis has already inspired hundreds of entrepreneurs to collect, sort, and innovate plastics at every stage of the manufacturing process, from waste pickers (​​the people who derive an income for picking material from waste streams) to researchers and startup founders.

A clear(er) opportunity for our entrepreneurs

The exciting opportunity of the Global Plastics Treaty lies in clarifying and unifying a  fragmented policy landscape.

By now, news about the plastics pollution crisis is no longer surprising, nor are the attempts to solve it. Where nations have lacked waste management infrastructure, informal waste pickers have collected, sorted, and managed plastic waste for decades.

In fact, they are responsible for 97 per cent of PET bottles collected for recycling, a formal part of the waste management system, which means they often don’t receive social and economic protections. 

Each nation has different goals, metrics and approaches to tackle the plastics pollution crisis. Not to mention how regional initiatives (such as the ASEAN regional action plan for combating marine debris) often sit separately too.

The Global Plastics Treaty has the opportunity to create a single framework and reporting system for all stakeholders to align with. This will greatly benefit entrepreneurs, as a clearly defined problem to solve makes for a better target for innovation. 

Across Southeast Asia, entrepreneurial individuals are already applying themselves to the plastics pollution crisis.

Also Read: Why interest in cleantech lags and how startups can overcome

For example, Vietnam-based ReForm Plastic currently empowers over 20 informal waste workers while operating six decentralised factories across Southeast Asia via a social franchise model with over 100 tons of non-tradable plastic waste processed in 2021.

The startup currently empowers 10 informal waste workers while operating four factories across Southeast Asia, with 85 tons of plastic waste diverted in 2021.

With a global treaty that clearly outlines the steps toward tackling plastic pollution, the markets for solutions to these issues become a lot clearer.

In turn, this de-risks the innovation opportunity for entrepreneurs. Starting your venture involves an element of luck but creating one that meets a clearly defined problem with legally-binding goals makes it an opportunity that is both more secure and stable to explore.

When we de-risk innovation, we open the doors wider for a more diverse range of entrepreneurs to enter the market.

Enabling more sustainable livelihoods

Plastic pollution disproportionately impacts the poor and the marginalised. Innovating today is not just important but urgent.

Limited choices and incomes restrict households to rely on single-use plastic packaging, while underdeveloped infrastructure can leave communities drowning in plastic waste.

Yet these communities are not simply victims of plastic pollution; they had played a critical role in tackling this crisis before the treaty was even on the table.

It’s exciting to see that stakeholders across the plastic value chain are not just advocating for the voices of some of these unheard voices. The efforts of waste workers and the informal sector were explicitly named in the treaty, so we hope their interests and voices will be represented in the final agreement.

Also Read: Why corporates and investors must climb the mountain called sustainability

These perspectives, and expertise, are critical to ensure solutions meet the needs of affected communities, and innovations will be built with, not enforced on, those on the frontlines.

While anyone can innovate, not everyone has the resources. When entrepreneurs face fewer risks or resistance, they’re more likely to start pursuing their innovation – and succeed. 

At The Incubation Network, we have the privilege of supporting an incredible number of entrepreneurs innovating for the better on a daily basis.

One fantastic example in Indonesia is Reciki Solusi which has launched a new project to improve the livelihoods of women waste workers and the impact of waste banks by establishing a buy-back centre for rigid plastic.

Women at their centre will have the opportunity to be formally employed, be enrolled in the national social security and health insurance program, and be given opportunities to upskill.

A compass, not a map

The foundations of the treaty have made one direction clear: the entire plastics value chain, from source to sea, needs to be revisited. If we want to reimagine the whole lifecycle of plastics, we need to take a holistic approach and come up with circular solutions.

The circular economy promotes closed-loop production, think reduce, reuse, recycle. Instead of a cycle of extraction and waste, we follow a cycle of sustainable resource usage.

Tackling such a visible and prominent problem like the plastics pollution crisis could help carve a path for other industries to consider a circular economy approach.

While the finer details and deliverables of the Global Plastics Treaty are being discussed, entrepreneurs have a clear remit to tackle the plastic pollution crisis. Those who move ahead of the treaty’s legally binding requirements stand to gain from a first-mover advantage once it is finalised.

The details may not be clear, but the sentiment is: there are opportunities for innovators at every stage of the plastics value chain and space for new players to emerge.

There is already a growing swell of energy and interest in the opportunities that a circular approach to plastics and waste could offer.

In the last two and a half years alone, The Incubation Network has worked with upwards of 200 solutions looking to do just that and will continue to build on the ecosystem’s momentum to further progress. 

Policies can be an important innovation catalyst. The Global Plastics Treaty presents an opportunity to put an overdue target on our region’s plastic pollution crisis. Bringing attention to the entrepreneurial gap is critical to inviting more stakeholders and startups into this space. 

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Image Credit: belchonock

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