Dow has also lent its backing to global platforms that bring together major companies in a systematic way at scale. This includes its role as a founding backer of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, an international consortium that has committed an initial US$1bn to back projects that reduce plastic leakage and waste, especially in vulnerable geographies and the oceans. Ventures include waste-collection infrastructure, scaling up technologies that facilitate recycling and recovery of plastics, education and outreach to mobilise government, business and community engagement, and clean-up efforts in significant waste conduits, such as polluted rivers that are carrying plastics into the ocean. Dow is also a backer, along with LyondellBasell and NOVA Chemicals, of the Closed Loop Circular Plastics Fund, a new initiative aiming to deploy US$100m to projects in the US and Canada that improve recycling logistics, equipment and infrastructure.