Partnering with McKinsey.org to build sustainable recycling systems in Latin America

Why do we do this? We know that however sustainably designed our products are, if they’re not being recycled, those benefits are not being realized. Today, Amcor is proud to announce our latest partnership to address this problem. Alongside McKinsey.org, a nonprofit founded by global consultancy McKinsey & Company, we’re developing recycling and waste management solutions that can be applied across communities in Latin America.

Amcor is supporting McKinsey.org’s “Rethinking Recycling” initiative in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, which has already worked with 5,000 households, trained more than 120 workers and helped communities to recycle a third of their waste. Before the initiative was started, there was no formal recycling system in the region and only a minority of the population regularly sorted their waste.

Rethinking Recycling started with a successful pilot project in Buenos Aires’ Barrio 31 and has now been expanded in Olavarría, a larger city in Buenos Aires Province.

The three-year project aims to fully roll-out a recycling programme across the city by working with the municipal government, residents and waste workers. Beginning this year, it will launch a series of pilots to test and improve recycling in the community, before expanding in 2022 and 2023 to reach the entire city.

To assist the project, Amcor is leveraging our customer network to expand support for the initiative from leading consumer packaged goods companies. In addition, Amcor has collaborated in the organization of workshops with supply chain partners and helped McKinsey.org to develop a city selection process for the program.

As a packaging company, Amcor isn’t able to build out recycling infrastructure across the world, but we can partner with organizations like McKinsey.org to lend our expertise and work with governments to design sound policy to increase recycling rates.

We also recognize that sustainable solutions are what is really required – both environmentally and financially. McKinsey.org’s vision of creating sustainable waste ecosystems, that can be applied in communities globally, is what attracted us to Rethinking Recycling. Through projects such as this, we hope to provide a blueprint that other communities can follow so more waste is collected and more sustainable outcomes are achieved.

To learn more about Amcor’s work internationally to partner with organisations to promote better waste management and recycling visit our partnerships page.

__About McKinsey.org __
McKinsey.org is a nonprofit founded by McKinsey & Company whose goal is to have lasting and substantial impact on complex social challenges. The organization works by applying McKinsey’s capabilities and by partnering with leaders from the private, public and social sectors. McKinsey.org’s Rethinking Recycling program is tackling the waste crisis by mobilizing every player in the process – from waste pickers to global multinational companies, from village leaders to state governors – to work together to formalize the recycling marketplace.