Alliance to End Plastic Waste appoints president, CEO

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) has announced that Jacob Duer will serve as its inaugural president and chief executive officer of the newly found nonprofit, effective Oct. 1. Duer joins AEPW from the United Nations, where he most recently served as program director for the UN Environment Programme.

“Jacob is an experienced, impact-driven, global leader with a breadth of expertise working across a broad range of stakeholders in the public and private sectors,” says David Taylor, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Procter & Gamble, and chairman of the AEPW. “His demonstrated leadership, passion for promoting sustainability and track record of building solution-oriented multilateral partnerships will be an invaluable asset as the AEPW grows into this next phase.”

In this newly created role, Duer will help to advance AEPW’s mission to develop, deploy and bring to scale solutions that will minimize and manage plastic waste and promote solutions for used plastics. This includes plastic reuse, recovery and recycling to keep it out of the environment. Since launching in January, AEPW has initiated projects focused on river renewal, municipal and city partnerships, idea incubation and IT infrastructure.

"Being strongly committed to environmental sustainability, I am honored to lead the Alliance as a unique solution model to address plastic waste as one of the most pressing environmental issues of today,” Duer says. “Working with all stakeholders, the Alliance will play a lead role in driving sustainable solutions for the future.”

Since its start in January, AEPW has committed to a goal of $1.5 billion to deliver sustainable solutions over the next five years.

“As a strategic partner to the AEPW, we are excited about the vision and leadership that Jacob will bring to this role,” says Peter Bakker, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. “This is an important inflection point as we build an unparalleled force to systematically and sustainably bring solutions to scale that will end plastic waste in the environment.”