Weekly bulletin on Circular Waste Management in Africa and OECD countries #26-2024

South Africa

·?????? Newly audited data showed that Petco achieved 60% post-consumer PET recycling rate in 2023. More to read: https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/petco-achieves-60-post-consumer-pet-recycling-rate-in-2023-2024-06-26

?France

·?????? The ADEME Occitanie Regional Directorate offers this training to enable you to?acquire basic knowledge of the Circular Economy and its multiple challenges and to increase your skills in the design and animation of a territorial action plan on the Circular Economy. This E learning training is aimed at?local authority and trade union employees,?working in positions such as?project managers or territorial project managers for the ecological and energy transition, but also economic developers. More to read: https://www.cycl-op.org/articles/h/formation-concevoir-et-animer-un-plan-d-actions-territorial-sur-l-economie-circulaire.html?from-notification=20240628

?·?????? Polystyrene yoghurt pots can be recycled into new yoghurt pots in 2025. More to read: https://www.citeo.com/communiques-de-presse

?·?????? The production of synthetic methane from biomass and waste fuels many expectations in France and in Europe. Stakeholders see it as a local solution for decarbonization and waste recovery complementary to methanization. The main sectors favored today are power-to-gas, pyrogasification and hydrothermal gasification. However, they each have their limits and constraints. Thermal gasification under pressure, initially developed for coal, is a technology that has not yet been fully investigated and appears to have advantages (production of syngas rich in methane, for example). It therefore seems important to study this technology in order to assess its relevance and its development potential in the context of the thermal recovery of waste in response to the production of carbon-free gas. More to read: https://record-net.org/catalogue/267#

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·?????? The repair and reuse map. This free tool is suitable for any local authority (from the region to the municipality to the waste management syndicate) to have a map of its territory,?highlighting its local repair and reuse actors. This map can be configured for each community according to its needs. More to read: https://longuevieauxobjets.ademe.fr/lacarte/

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EU & Other countries

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·?????? The report provides state and local governments in the United States with the legal tools necessary to hold plastic producers and fast-moving consumer goods companies accountable for the harm they cause. This report outlines the significant burdens that plastic pollution imposes on state and municipal systems, which bear the financial, environmental, and health costs of managing these effects. It also provides a comprehensive roadmap for legal professionals and government officials to initiate litigation against those responsible for the proliferation of plastic waste. More to read: https://www.ciel.org/reports/make-plastic-polluters-pay/ and https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/make_polluters_pay_cities_states_recoup_costs_plastic_pollution_report.pdf

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·?????? EPR of the past, present and future in British Columbia . ?The BC model is considered the best EPR in Canada. More to read: https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2024/06/20/epr-of-the-past-present-and-future-in-british-columbia/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202024-06-24%20Waste%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:63269%5D&utm_term=Waste%20Dive ?

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·?????? Navigating the complexities of textile waste management. The report examines the nuances of textile recycling, exploring the myriad challenges, innovations, and emerging trends shaping its future landscape. Mandatory requirements for recycled content, coupled with incentives for sustainable practices, can drive significant change in consumer behaviour and industry practices, said the expert.? More to read: https://www.wasterecyclingmag.com/top-stories/textile/navigating-the-complexities-of-textile-waste-management

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·?????? Massachusetts Senate calls for EPR study commission in broader plastics bill. The state Senate’s bill aims to ban certain types of plastic bags, SUP (but only by request), along with other related measures. Meanwhile, a proposed bottle bill expansion was added to a pending climate bill. Massachusetts moves away from harmful plastics and throwaway products, like Europe has, and prioritize bio and eco-friendly products and services to stay abreast of the global economy. The legislation will prohibit carry-out plastic bags at retail stores statewide and require stores to charge 10 cents for recycled paper bags, five cents of which will be allocated to environmental protection measures. The bill provides a limited exemption from the requirement to collect 10 cents for small local retailers. More to read: https://malegislature.gov/PressRoom/Detail?pressReleaseId=103 and example of municipal ordinance on plastic bans already passed (requirement and compliance) and: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sierraclub.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fsce%2Fmassachusetts-chapter%2FMA%2520Plastic%2520Bag%2520Ordinances.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK

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·?????? For some parties to the Basel Convention, “chemical recycling”—the umbrella term for a number of different processes—holds promise. For others, there are questions regarding potentially hazardous by-products and environmental impacts—and whether it’s time yet to develop technical guidelines. Following discussion in the Technical Matters Contact Group, Saudi Arabia, supported by Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, and the Russian Federation, proposed developing technical guidelines on chemical recycling. The African Group, Uruguay, European Union, Switzerland, and Norway noted chemical recycling had already been discussed as part of COP 16 negotiations on the technical guidelines on environmentally sound management (ESM) of plastic waste, and they felt it would be premature to proceed with standalone technical guidelines on the subject. After a break for consultations, it was agreed to add a paragraph to the draft decision, noting that COP 16 had called for technical assistance activities to support use of the plastic waste technical guidelines by developing country Parties and other Parties requiring assistance. More to read: https://enb.iisd.org/basel-convention-oewg-14-28Jun2024?s=09

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·?????? The Office of Ireland Government Procurement?has launched a new framework that allows public bodies to purchase?remanufactured laptops, the first arrangement of its kind in the EU. Read more about the reuse framework. The contract has an estimated value of up to €30 million and fully supports the circular economy objectives set out in the Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan 2024- 2027. The laptops are subject to rigorous manufacturing and testing standards and devices supplied under the new framework come with up to three years of warranty. More to read: https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/aac4f-ministers-donohoe-and-smyth-welcome-new-procurement-arrangement-for-remanufactured-laptops/

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·?????? Since 2024, municipal waste incineration (MWI) installations have been included in the EU ETS, but only for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) purposes. These facilities must report their emissions but are not yet required to surrender allowances for them. The European Commission is scheduled to review the feasibility of fully including MWIs in the EU ETS by July 2026, with potential full inclusion from 2028. A new report published by Zero Waste Europe recommends ?including biogenic emissions when the EU considers adding municipal incineration into ETS, ‘as the atmosphere does not distinguish between fossil and non-fossil CO2 in terms of its response to emissions’. The report discusses the potential implications of how biogenic CO2 emissions are treated in the EU ETS, highlighting that zero-rating CO2 emissions from wastes of non-fossil origin (biogenic materials) could create incentives that undermine waste prevention and recycling efforts for these materials, by effectively making these materials, such as paper, wood, food waste, and natural textiles, a lower cost feedstock. The study also suggests that the current 20 MW threshold for inclusion in the EU ETS could potentially be lowered to 10 MW or aligned with the Industrial Emissions Directive, to avoid the development of smaller facilities to game the system. More to read: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/incineration-in-the-eu-emission-trading-system-a-set-of-suggestions-for-its-inclusion/

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·?????? “Making the global plastics treaty work for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)” study. The study identifies key opportunities and challenges and provides initial recommendations for how to ensure an effective and fair treaty that, by design, supports, and is supported by, MSMEs. One of its key findings is that policymakers can be confident that there is broad support among MSMEs for an ambitious and legally binding plastics treaty. More to read: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/making-the-global-plastics-treaty-work-for-micro-small-and-medium-sized?utm_campaign=msme-paper-24&utm_medium=email&utm_source=emf_public_other_newsletter&utm_content=link/plastics&utm_term=DECISIONMAKERS/intermediate&mc_cid=1524acff94&mc_eid=eff45a485f

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