Plastic Disclosure Project to Launch This Fall

Hundreds of companies and institutions should expect a questionnaire in early October about their use of plastic, with the launch of the Plastic Disclosure Project.

The project is the brainchild of Doug Woodring, an environmental entrepreneur in Hong Kong, The New York Times reports. The initiative will officially launch in September.

Modeling itself after the Carbon Disclosure Project, the program seeks to make organizations think about their consumption of plastic and how to reduce it. Woodring plans to target big users of plastic, including companies, universities, hospitals and sports groups.

The questionnaire will ask these organizations to report how much plastic they use, how they recycle and what policies they have to reduce consumption, increase recycling and increase the use of biodegradable plastic.

“What we’re trying to do is to have companies manage and use plastic much more wisely, and to receive recognition for doing so from both customers and investors,” Woodring says.

“Once you’ve taken an inventory of your use for the first time, it’s easy to improve on it,” he adds. “It’s not necessarily painful.”