The Global Returns Project welcomes the zero waste network GAIA (the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives) to its portfolio of charities, tackling plastic pollution at its source
London, 5 October 2026 – The Global Returns Project (GRP), a UK charity unlocking new philanthropy to deliver urgent solutions for our planet, today announces its selection of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) to join its portfolio of high-impact climate and nature charities.
GRP’s Due Diligence Committee of climate and nature experts oversees selection and assessment of the charity’s portfolio of best-in-class environmental organisations. GAIA’s addition to this portfolio follows a lengthy assessment process of charities tackling the plastics crisis globally, guided by a proprietary methodology.
From today, donors to GRP may support GAIA alongside the portfolio’s other exemplary organisations: Blue Marine Foundation, ClientEarth, Global Canopy, Rainforest Trust, Trillion Trees, and the regenerative agriculture projects at Rainforest Alliance.
GAIA joins the Global Returns Project’s portfolio with a focus on the waste sector, addressing plastic pollution and climate change through community-led zero waste systems, such as plastic bans, reuse, recycling, and composting. GAIA is a global network of more than 1,000 organisations across over 100 countries working to advance climate solutions rooted in environmental justice. For more than 25 years, GAIA has catalysed a shift away from pollution-intensive waste systems towards decentralised, community-led approaches that deliver measurable climate benefits while strengthening local economies and ocean ecosystems.
Professor Joanna Haigh CBE, Chair of the Global Returns Project’s Due Diligence Committee, said: “The crisis of global plastic pollution is inseparable from the crises of climate change and nature loss. This most recent selection process has sought an exemplary plastics-focused charity to sit within our portfolio protecting rainforests, enforcing environmental law, defending oceans, and more. We’re pleased to have found that high-impact organisation in GAIA.”
Christie Keith, International Coordinator and US Executive Director at GAIA, said: “The plastics industry accounts for 5.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. We’re delighted to join the Global Returns Project’s portfolio as we work to scale our work targeting the root causes of this crisis, from the overproduction of plastic to inadequate waste systems around the world.”
Jack Chellman, CEO of the Global Returns Project, said: “The Global Returns Project has always offered donors a simple way to tackle a huge array of the planet’s biggest problems – without any fees. The expansion of our portfolio of charities today gives our community a similar expansion in its ability to make a difference. From plastic pollution to overfishing, deforestation, and more, you can take action through the Global Returns Project.”
From 1 October, standard donations to the Global Returns Project’s portfolio of charities will be split equally between the following seven organisations: Blue Marine Foundation, ClientEarth, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Global Canopy, Rainforest Trust, Trillion Trees, and Rainforest Alliance. Donors may requestto further restrict their gifts to particular organisations or projects by contacting the GRP team.
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