- The first Annual Plastic Reboot Conference kicks off in Salvador, Brazil from 22-24 October 2025, bringing together 15 countries and global partners tackling plastic pollution through the Plastic Reboot programme.
- The event marks a milestone for the USD 108 million GEF-funded global programme, advancing multilateral action and collaboration across governments, the private sector, and civil society.
Salvador, Brazil, 21 October 2025 This week, representatives from 15 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America are meeting in Salvador for the first Plastic Reboot Annual Conference, a global forum to advance circular solutions to curb plastic pollution.
The event, hosted by the Government of Brazil, in partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Wide Fund (WWF), marks a major milestone for the global Plastic Reboot programme. The USD 108 million programme tackles plastic pollution through a life-cycle approach; from production to its use and disposal, limiting the potential problems caused by plastic products at every stage of their life.
Plastic is deeply embedded in our lives and our economies, and plastic pollution continues to mount. Research shows that the life-cycle approach, foundational to circular solutions, could save governments USD 70 billion in waste management expenses, and save society USD 4.5 trillion in social and environmental costs by 2040.
The three-day conference serves as a hub for alignment, sharing of ideas on regulations and policies, innovation, best practice and connecting governments, private sector actors, technical experts and civil society to strengthen cooperation and collaboration. Sessions will explore among others, successful cases that promote circularity in the food, beverage and tourism sectors with upstream measures to curb pollution from single-use plastic products.
The inaugural Plastic Reboot Annual Conference marks an important moment in our fight against plastic pollution which is one of the fastest-growing threats to the environment. It is excellent to see the Plastic Reboot Integrated Programme up and running this is a pivotal effort to advance both local and global solutions to plastic pollution, ahead of a new international agreement on plastic pollution. We are working to rethink and reboot how we produce, consume, and dispose of plastics into the future, and doing so together, said GEF CEO and Chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodrguez.
Circular solutions could also massively reduce the volume of plastics entering the ocean, particularly from packaging and mainly in the food and beverage sector which accounts for about 36 per cent of global plastic production, making it a major driver of plastic waste, especially in tourism hotspots.
The global Plastic Reboot programme adopts a life-cycle approach to find circular solutions to reduce plastic pollution at source. These include providing support to governments to think through the policy and regulatory changes needed for companies to get the right signals for designing products and packaging for reuse and recyclability, supporting countries in introducing incentives and regulatory tools like Extended Producer Responsibility based on the best lessons available, and optimizing supply chains to minimize plastic leakage. In the pursuit of such solutions, the four-day Plastic Reboot conference serves as a platform connecting governments, private sector actors, scientific and technical experts and civil society to strengthen cooperation and collaboration to curb pollution from single-use plastic products.
Now is the time to turn knowledge into meaningful action, said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. Plastic Reboot supports the shift we needdriving innovation, and supporting governments in establishing the policy and legal enabling environment to accelerate a rethinking of how plastic products are designed, produced, and used. It is also a clear sign of member states willingness to act, and a testament to what is possible when we work together to achieve global transformation to address plastic pollution.
The conference will not only benefit partners from the programmes 15 countries Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, India, Jordan, Laos, Peru, Philippines, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa but will also serve to chart a course for a global shift toward sustainable production and consumption by transitioning countries towards a circular economy free from single-use plastic packaging in the food and beverage sector.
Ending plastic pollution requires more than managing wasteit means rethinking how plastics are designed, used, and valued, said Nik Sekhran, Chief Conservation Officer, WWF. Through the Plastic Reboot programme, we are supporting countries and businesses to shift toward circular systems that protect both people and nature. The solutions being pilotedfrom reusable packaging to smarter product designprove that tackling plastic pollution is not only possible, but essential for a sustainable future.
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About Plastic Reboot
Plastic Reboot is a global programme that aims to reduce plastic pollution by advancing upstream and midstream circular solutions in the food and beverage sector. It brings together 15 countries Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, India, Jordan, Laos, Peru, Philippines, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa working to tackle plastic pollution where it starts. By 2030, the initiative aims to catalyse systemic change globally and nationally, leveraging investment, policy innovation, private sector engagement, and technical support to pilot and scale circular solutions. The programme is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), co-led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and implemented with partners including the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
About the Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) includes several multilateral funds working together to address the planet's most pressing challenges in an integrated way. Its financing helps developing countries address complex challenges and work towards meeting international environmental goals. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than $26 billion in financing, primarily as grants, and mobilized another $153 billion for country-driven priority projects.
About the UN Environment Programme
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
About WWF
WWF is one of the worlds leading conservation organizations, working for 60 years in nearly 100 countries to help people and nature thrive. With the support of 1.3 million members in the United States and more than 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment, and combat the climate crisis.
