Weekly newsletter Waste Management and Transition to a Circular Economy in Africa #07-2023

France

Established by the French Government in 1990 as the National competence Centre for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection, INERIS has developed expertise in the areas of chronic, accidental and hazardous risks. More to read: ?https://www.ineris.fr/en/ineris/news/post-mining-management-ineris-coordinates-european-pomhaz-project

The?global?network “International Round Table on Materials Criticality” (IRTC), funded by EIT Raw Materials, has a crucial role in the international debate on criticality. IRTC23 took place in Lille France and was about dialogue on raw materials for a sustainable future and the link with circular economy and recycling. Raw materials play an important role in economic and technological development of, among others, the renewable & digital transition. At the same time, supply of many raw materials heavily depends on precarious and unsustainable supply chains. This conference brought together international leading experts, practitioners and participants, to exchange perspectives and engage in in-depth discussions on how to assess and manage raw materials and criticality, and to explore the potential of different strategies to secure supply. ?More to read: https://www.irtc-conference.org/program/. Another document of interest is the IRTC decision tool on ‘better understand and mitigate raw material criticality in your company’ https://www.weloop.org/en/irtc-decision-tool/#:~:text=IRTC%20DECISION%20TOOL%20The%20tool%20aims%20to%20help,well-known%20indicators%20that%20serve%20as%20early%20warning%20signals.

South Africa

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has gazetted its draft Household Hazardous Waste Management Strategy for public comment. The strategy’s main purpose is to establish the framework for municipalities in the country to build new and improved waste management programs – with key changes involving the establishment of systems to get rid of electronic and electrical equipment and light sources like fluorescent tubes, bulbs and LEDs. More to read: https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/662559/big-changes-coming-for-waste-collection-in-south-africa-and-you-may-have-to-pay-more/

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January 2023 marked the end of the first full year of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). As the packaging industry awaits the results of its baseline performance against the legislated collection and recycling targets, there is broad consensus that much more work is required to meet the increasing targets to 2027.?More to read: https://www.cbn.co.za/industry-news/packaging-industry/12-months-of-epr/

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Pick n Pay has removed all plastic barrier bags from its till points, claiming to be the first retailer in South Africa to do so. The supermarket group notes that the move will prevent over 20 million of these small bags from entering the environment. More to read: https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/178/235971.html#

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the construction industry produces a lot of waste and that it needs to recognize that it has a significant role to play in resource management. They need to support the waste industry by fostering the principles of 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle according to President of the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA). More to read: https://www.buildinganddecor.co.za/construction-industry-called-out-for-wastefulness/

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?In the world

·Implementation of Circular Economy regulations in the SADC region’ conference. The conference will be hosted on the 22nd and 23rd of February 2023. The conference is jointly organized by the European Union, SADC Business Council and Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA). More to read: https://sadcbc.org/events/circular-economy-conference/

On?27 and 28 February 2023, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Commission will host the 2023 European Circular Economy Stakeholder Conference. The sixth Conference will bring together Europe's biggest circular economy stakeholders to focus on?the role of the circular economy in driving sustainable recovery, open strategic autonomy and resilience.?The two-day event will be an opportunity to present the circular economy as a key factor in building resource independence and resilience while ensuring that policy objectives are linked to sustainable consumption and production. ?The first day will be on the transition to safe-and-sustainable chemicals, the European automotive industry driving towards circularity and the environmental and social impacts of global textiles value chains. The second day will be focusing on two main topics:?Biodiversity and climate?and?Resilience for Europe. More to read: https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/en/annual-conference-2023-recovery-open-strategic-autonomy-and-resilience

Deposit return scheme in Europe: a detailed overview and results of the current deposit return scheme implementation in Europe. Belgium is the only EU member state that claims not to implement a Deposit Refund System in the future, as the recycling rates are still high, even when the plastic beverage packaging is collected from homes along with other plastic waste. DRS was not essential for achieving high recycling rates in Belgium. 89.1% of all packaging on the market was recycled. More to read: https://sensoneo.com/waste-library/deposit-return-schemes-overview-europe/

This new study from JRC EU provides a comparative environmental and economic assessment of plastic waste recycling and energy recovery (incineration) technologies, using actual plant data complemented with external information. The recycling technologies include mechanical, physical and chemical recycling. The study concludes that the choice of the preferred management option for plastic waste should be based on three main criteria: i) the maximization of material recovery while minimizing processing impacts (principally related to energy consumption), in line with the waste hierarchy; ii) the specificity of the plastic waste stream and the treatment thereby required (technical feasibility); and iii) the economic feasibility. Preliminary economic data suggests that some chemical recycling technologies may be already economically viable without financial support, whereas others might become so in the medium to long term. As the sectors of physical recycling and chemical recycling are currently experiencing rapid technological developments, the analysis presented in this study should be updated as technologies become more mature, also in view of formulating appropriate and possible policy interventions. More to read: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC132067

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This report estimates efficiencies of generation of energy from waste for Member States which incinerate a significant share of the waste incinerated across the EU. It highlights that the energy efficiency?of EU incinerators are appallingly low and the distinction between recovery (R1) and disposal (D10) incinerators is arbitrary, and should therefore be dropped from the EU Waste Directive. More to read: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/debunking-efficient-recovery/

Economic growth is closely linked to increases in production, consumption and resource use and has detrimental effects on the natural environment and human health. It is unlikely that a long-lasting, absolute decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures and impacts can be achieved at the global scale; therefore, societies need to rethink what is meant by growth and progress and their meaning for global sustainability. The EU has achieved unprecedented levels of prosperity and well-being in recent decades, and its social, health and environmental standards rank among the highest in the world. Maintaining this position does not have to depend on economic growth. Could the European Green Deal, for example, become a catalyst for EU citizens to create a society that consumes less and grows in other than material dimensions??As global decoupling of economic growth and resource consumption is not happening, real creativity is called for: how can society develop and grow in quality (e.g. purpose, solidarity, empathy), rather than in quantity (e.g. material standards of living), in a more equitable way? What are we willing to renounce in order to meet our sustainability ambitions? More to read: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/growth-without-economic-growth

Leaving no one behind: How a global instrument to end plastic pollution can enable a just transition for the people informally collecting and recovering waste. A just transition of the Informal Waste Recovery Sector (IWRS) means that the transition to sustainable production and consumption of plastic is designed in a manner that is as fair, inclusive and equitable as possible to the IWRS, generating and preserving decent work opportunities, and leaving no one behind. Solutions can only be sustainable if those who are affected are able to contribute to the decision-making process with thoughts, knowledge and expectations. More to read: . ?https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2022/11/un-habitat_niva_report_leaving_no_one_behind_1.pdf

Clean technologies and recycling are crucial to lower anthropogenic emissions and achieve sustainable development goals. As clean technologies and recycling gain traction, the trade-off between their environmental costs and benefits is still unknown. One way to assess this trade-off is to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a methodology which quantifies potential environmental impacts in all stages of a product life cycle. For instance, this approach allows one to understand the environmental balance between the burden avoided through recycling, and the burdens incurred by the use of materials and energy in the recycling/reuse processes themselves. More to read: https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/ctr.2023001