Weekly Newsletter on Circular Waste Management in Africa and OECD countries #41-2024

South Africa

·?????? The point of view of a PRO on ‘South African Businesses Urged to Enforce E-Waste Regulations’. More to read: https://www.cbn.co.za/industry-news/recycling-waste-management/south-african-businesses-urged-to-enforce-e-waste-regulations/

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·?????? The point of view of APIA representative on the way forward with rPS. More to read: https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/new-epr-regulations-only-for-non-food-packaging-applications-2024-09-18

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France

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·?????? Almost all the French PROs have come together in a?"collective"?and are considering a more formalized structure to represent them. They contest the idea of entrusting the reuse and repair funds to Ademe. They ask to be involved in the definition of the objectives of the EPRs. The inspection mission on EPR sectors and the recent publication of its report will have at least served this purpose: to bring together almost all the PROs in a common form of organization. They are preparing to found a kind of professional union of PROs, responsible for defending their interests and positions. Last spring, the PROs published a common "position" on the project to create a regulatory body for EPR sectors, with the status of an independent administrative authority (AAI) or an independent public authority (API). More to read: https://dechets-infos.com/rep-vers-un-syndicat-des-eco-organismes-4931494.html?s=09

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·?????? Birth of a REP sector, how does it work? What are the obstacles that can punctuate this journey? The main difficulty is to build the widest possible membership base. Buy-in is not always self-evident: foreign brands do not always feel concerned and importers tend to consider that the responsibility should lie with the brand. For the moment, we have gathered 800 members, who represent 80% of the market in volume. But we still have several hundred, if not several thousand, small players to convince to cover the remaining 20%. The amount of the eco-fee is another sensitive point: producers would like it to be as low as possible, while downstream actors, who ensure collection or reuse, would like more support from the PRO. It can be difficult to balance competing interests. More to read: https://infos.ademe.fr/article-magazine/naissance-dune-filiere-rep-comment-ca-se-passe/

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·?????? In France, only two sites are capable of separating the three materials made of multi layer (average beverage carton composition of 72.5% fibre board, 24% polymer and 3.5% aluminium) packaging such as tetra pak. In Hondouville (Eure), the bricks are transformed into toilet paper and paper towels. The necessary installations are extremely expensive. To be recycled, some of the bricks consumed in France are sent to Spain, Italy and Germany. Due to the composite nature of?beverage cartons, they cannot be easily recycled by paper mills that recycle regular paper-based packaging. This is because these? mills use a 2 to 4-minute soaking/pulping process, which is not sufficient to delaminate layers in beverage cartons to separate.?Therefore, beverage cartons must be processed at specialised paper mills. There are 20 such mills in Europe, and of those located? in the four countries researched, all use the ‘Single Separation’ method, in which the paperboard fibres are separated from the? aluminium and polyethylene layers using water and a washing machine-like drum in a process taking roughly 20 minutes. The? processing capacities of the specialist mills – combined with their geographical coverage and process losses – is one of the factors? impacting the recycling rate for beverage cartons in each country.?For environmental associations, even if recycled, these bricks are not a good alternative.?The only solution is to replace the food cartons with, in particular, the deposit for reuse,"?says Zero Waste France. More to read: https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/environnement/recyclage-le-casse-tete-des-briques-alimentaires_6494240.html ?

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?EU & Other countries

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·?????? Circular economy minister Mary Creagh has confirmed that the deposit return scheme (DRS) in England and Northern Ireland will not include glass – only PET plastic, steel, and aluminium drink containers will be included.?“Implementing a DRS that includes glass is not unprecedented. More than 50 schemes exist around the world and 46 include glass. The four remaining schemes that do not include glass have a separate glass returnable system.?? More to read: https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/mary-creagh-confirms-that-glass-will-not-be-in-drs/

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·?????? Extended producer responsibility for packaging: Regulators’ agreed positions and technical interpretations. Version 5.0 has already been published. More to read: https://media.licdn.com/dms/document/media/D4E1FAQERpk5xVDhbJA/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/0/1728639772321?e=1729728000&v=beta&t=1obxN8qOIphdECNSEKZZoXESKxtXxtS3pgTqgWi_CSE

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·?????? Extended producer responsibility for packaging: Regulators’ agreed positions and technical interpretations. This document contains the joint interpretations and agreed positions of the agencies (Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) referred to in this document as the Regulators) relating to extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR), in particular the Data Regulations for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. More to read: https://media.licdn.com/dms/document/media/D4E1FAQERpk5xVDhbJA/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/0/1728639772321?e=1729728000&v=beta&t=1obxN8qOIphdECNSEKZZoXESKxtXxtS3pgTqgWi_CSE

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·?????? Position paper – Recommendations for an EU Circular Economy Act: ECOS, Environmental Coalition on Standards, calls for a circular economy that fits within planetary boundaries. Recycling on its own will not be enough: we need to slow down, substantially limit our production and consumption and change the established patterns if we are to reduce the mounting pressure on natural ecosystems. The circular economy offers part of the solution for reducing material footprints by designing systems that prioritise resource reduction, prolong product lifespans, also through reuse and repair, promote resource reuse and it needs to be implemented via solid targets. More to read: https://ecostandard.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024-10-04_ECOS_Recommendations-Circular-Economy-Act.pdf

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·?????? This OECD report, published as countries near the final stages of negotiations to establish a global plastics treaty, models alternative policy scenarios honing in on different areas for action. This includes curbing production and demand, promoting eco-design, enhancing recycling and closing leakage pathways. It provides insights into the potential environmental benefits and economic consequences of different levels of ambition towards ending plastic pollution by 2040, according to which countries act, how stringent policies are and what stages of the plastics lifecycle they cover. More to read: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/policy-scenarios-for-eliminating-plastic-pollution-by-2040_76400890-en.html

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·?????? The Advocate General (AG) Collins?delivered his Opinion in Case C?254/23.?This Opinion not only marks an important development for the future of EPR?obligations in Slovenia (a EU member state), but, if followed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), it has the potential to revolutionize the way sustainability initiatives are approached across the EU. In March 2022, the Republic of Slovenia adopted a new Law on Environmental Protection aiming to end the country’s consistently low recycling rates - the result of years of unsatisfactory and ineffective performance of waste management tasks by competing commercial undertakings.?The new Law abolishes the old system in favor of a model that confers responsibility for the fulfilment of EPR obligations for specific categories of consumer products upon?a single organization, operating on a not-for-profit basis. ?This model requires the relevant marketers to participate in or contract with the organization to meet their waste management obligations. Several Slovenian companies have challenged this system, considering that the creation of a non-profit monopoly restricts competition and could be incompatible with European law. The Slovene Constitutional Court has asked the ECJ to rule on the compatibility of the new?EPR?model with the EU rules on services of general economic interest (SGEI), the internal market and EU secondary legislation.?The most pertinent and politically charged question concerns the ability of the Member States to designate EPR fulfilment obligations as SGEIs with the consequence of limiting competition, to the extent necessary for the services’ performance.?The answer to this question will have an impact going beyond the treatment of EPR obligations and may provide an opportunity for other environmental protection services to be designated as?SGEIs. The AG’s Opinion recognized the overriding policy objectives at play in the waste management sector.?According to the AG, an organization made responsible for the collective fulfilment of EPR obligations may be entrusted with an SGEI “where there is a legitimate public interest, such as the protection of the environment or of public health, that market forces have failed to meet adequately; the national authorities have clearly entrusted it with a public service mission by way of acts that contain adequate reasons for their adoption and it is shown to be engaged in economic activity”.?That such an organization operates on a?not-for-profit basis?and is vested with an?exclusive right?would?not pose an issue, so long as these measures are introduced to ensure an adequate level of protection of the environment and public health and are proportionate. ?On a broader scale, the Opinion of AG emphasizes the crucial role SGEIs may come to play in the sustainability debate.?SGEIs have not been given nearly enough consideration in the ongoing discourse on the role of competition law in driving sustainability.?If followed by the ECJ, the Opinion would fundamentally change the approach to sustainability initiatives across the EU, making it clear that services?which?genuinely serve?the objective of environmental protection are so crucial for society that they are justified in being reserved as SGEIs, subject to certain conditions. More to read: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62023CC0254.

·?????? At the same time, The Slovak DRS is clearly one of the leading examples of a well-organised, industry-run and serves as an inspiration for many other European countries which are preparing to establish their own DRS. Since its launch in 2022, the Slovak DRS has achieved significant results in improving the collection and recycling of single-use beverage packaging, exceeding legal targets and bringing the collection rate for this waste stream to above 90% already in 2023, many years ahead of the mandatory EU targets (77% in 2025 and 90% in 2029 as prescribed by the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive). It is therefore very concerning that the Slovak government is proposing amendments that could jeopardise the high performance of the country’s DRS and potentially change it into a state-run system. UNESDA, together with other EU stakeholders, have expressed strong concerns about these proposed amendments. More to read: https://www.unesda.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/EU-Stakeholders-joint-letter-regarding-DRS-amendments_22-August-2024.pdf

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·?????? Waste management giant Indaver has completed the construction of its first industrial plant for the chemical recycling of polystyrene and polyolefins in the port of Antwerp, two years after laying the foundation stone in September 2022. More to read: https://www.sustainableplastics.com/news/plastics2chemicals-recycling-plant-closes-ps-and-polyolefin-packaging-loop

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·?????? With the new packaging and packaging waste directive, the mass of material contaminants will have to be deducted. The aim of this report is to investigate the ‘recyclability’ of the beverage carton, as an example of a relatively complex multi-layer? packaging format, using Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK as case studies, based on the most up-to-date data available.? According to the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE), 51% of all beverage cartons placed on the EU market in? 2019 were recycled. One issue for beverage cartons – along with many packaging formats – is that while the ‘placed on the market’? weight (the denominator in the recycling rate calculation) is pure packaging, the ‘recycled’ weight (the numerator in the calculation)? often includes other elements, such as food and drink remaining in items of packaging, or dirt and other contaminants “stuck” on or? inside the package. This ‘non-packaging’ material, which is subsequently removed during the sorting and recycling process, can? nonetheless represent a significant proportion of the mass of material counted as recycled packaging. Under the EU’s new? measurement method for recycling, all such process losses will have to be deducted from material counted within recycling figures.? More to read: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/zero_waste_europe_report_-beverage-carton_en.pdf

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·?????? Road to Busan | Plastics Treaty Talks: Updates and the View to the Finish Line (https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/events/road-to-busan-plastics-treaty-talks-updates-and-the-view-to-the-finish-line / ) . EPR is to internalize all environmental and human health costs according to the Philippines delegate ( video at 48:37) Support to plastic credit facilities. More to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcPW0UkuKws

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·?????? Another policy paper: Extended Producer Responsibility: Basic facts and key principles OECD ENVIRONMENT POLICY PAPER NO. 41. More to read: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/67587b0b-en.pdf?expires=1728532515&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=93EB326927B80EC7FEB55FE2508F2FBD

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·?????? Malaysia launches circular economy policy to drive green growth. Malaysia has unveiled a new Circular Economy Policy Framework to transform its industrial landscape and support sustainable development. More to read: https://en.vietnamplus.vn/malaysia-launches-circular-economy-policy-to-drive-green-growth-post297271.vnp

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·?????? A new report from Bloomberg’s market research division provides further evidence of brand owners struggling to meet stated recycled content goals due to a lack of available material and cost pressure. More to read: https://resource--recycling-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/resource-recycling.com/plastics/2024/10/09/analysis-undersupply-of-pcr-is-stifling-brand-goals/amp/