Data platform will track global plastic waste in the environment

IBM, headquartered in Armonk, New York, has joined The Alliance to End Plastic Waste as a supporting member. As part of its work with the organization, IBM will collaborate with the alliance to design an IBM Cloud-hosted data platform to help track plastic waste and recovery globally.

The alliance is a nonprofit organization of members from across the plastics value chain to address plastic waste globally.  

The Plastics Recovery Insight and Steering Model (PRISM) will aim to serve as a single source of consistent, actionable data for nongovernment organizations (NGOs), value chain participants, communities, regulators and other organizations to improve waste management decisions and programs, according to a news release from IBM.

The platform will be designed to allow stakeholders to convene and unite various data sets. Areas of focus include plastic consumption and collection, plastic waste generated and leaked into the environment, waste management and recycling solutions and more as the tool is expanded, the company says.

"A very significant obstacle we face in combatting the plastic waste challenge is how to bring together the multitude of data that exists in a way that's verifiable, flexible and actionable," says Nick Kolesch, vice president for projects, The Alliance to End Plastic Waste. "IBM Cloud provides the flexibility to convene stakeholders and value chain participants to securely contribute data, with an easy path for migration, hosting and user access. We are pleased that IBM has joined our efforts and look forward to their contribution of solutions, advanced technologies and capabilities in pursuit of our mission."

"Plastics play an essential role in our global economy, from simple packaging and shipping to critical, life-saving materials for hospitals and health care workers," says Manish Chawla, global industry managing director, energy, resources and manufacturing, at IBM. "By harnessing the power of cloud and artificial intelligence we can bring together valuable and disparate pieces of data in secured and flexible environment where everyone from alliance members to governments and regulators can collaborate to address this global challenge."

Development began with the support of IBM Garage, a framework where organizations can work with IBM to fast-track innovation and results by combining technology, design and business strategy.