Today, Tom Ford Ford and 52HZ started accepting submissions for the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, which seeks to hasten the process of developing alternatives to thin-film plastic which accounts for 46 percent of all ocean plastic leakage.

“Sustainability is a key critical issue in our lives now,” designer Tom Ford said. “Plastic pollution is taking one of the greatest tolls on our environment and thin-film plastic makes up 46 percent of all plastic waste entering our ocean. We will continue to advocate for the adoption of the winning innovations and will do whatever we can to turn the tide of plastic pollution and thin-film plastic specifically. We need to work towards finding a solution before it’s too late to save our environment.”

The prize is a two-year competition, followed by three years of support for competition finalists. The purse total is more than $1 million with the goal is to help finalists reach scale and market adoption by 2025.

Ford, who is also CFDA’s Chairman, will lead a panel of judges, which, to date, include Stella McCartney, Trudie Styler, Livia Firth, Susan Rockefeller, and Don Cheadle as well as Dr. Andrew Forrest AO of Fortescue Metals Group and Minderoo Foundation, Audrey Choi of Morgan Stanley, Danni Washington of The Big Blue & You; Melati Wijsen of YOUTHOPIA and Bye Bye Plastic Bags, Saskia van Gendt of Rothy’s, and Tom Szaky of TerraCycle. Investor Matt Grossman will chair the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize Investment Alliance.

Submissions to the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize are open through through October 24. To learn more, please go to www.plasticprize.org.