IBM to help track global plastic waste in the environment

Following an announcement made by IBM, the technology and consultant company has joined The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance) as a support member, IBM will help Alliance to create a data platform to track global plastic waste in the environment.

The New data platform will be hosted on IBM Cloud to track plastic waste and recovery globally, and will be called Plastics Recovery Insight and Steering Model ("PRISM"). The aim of the platform is to serve as a single source of consistent actionable data to help inform how NGOs value chain participants, communities, regulators and other organisations improve their waste management decisions and programs.

It was also reported that the platform will be designed to allow stakeholders to ‘convene and unite’ various data sets in order to collaborate and address the plastic waste challenges with the help of data. 

Such areas that look to be addressed include plastic consumption and collection; plastic waste generated and leaking into the environment; waste management and recycling solutions in place; and additional data sets as the tool is expanded.

"A very significant obstacle we face in combating the plastic waste challenge is how to bring together the multitude of data that exists in a way that's verifiable, flexible and actionable. 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,” commented Nick Kolesch, Vice President for Projects, Alliance to End Plastic Waste.

"Plastics play an essential role in our global economy, from simple packaging and shipping, to critical, life-saving materials for hospitals and healthcare workers. By harnessing the power of cloud and artificial intelligence we can bring together valuable and disparate pieces of data in a secure and flexible environment where everyone from Alliance members to governments and regulators can collaborate to address this global challenge,” added Manish Chawla, Global Industry Managing Director, Energy, Resources, and Manufacturing at IBM.

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