Norway-based Tomra, a provider of waste collection and sorting systems, has released 10 recommendations for a United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Plastics Treaty.
Published ahead the third International Negotiation Committee Meeting (INC-3), taking place from November 13 to 17 in Nairobi, Kenya, the recommendations are an actionable approach to achieve successful waste management solutions across the world.
The recommendations are:
- Ensure access to efficient and convenient general waste collection for all citizens in all regions as a universal human right;
- Promote reuse models by settings targets for specific categories;
- Put mandatory targets in place, including a minimum 55% recycling rate target for plastic packaging;
- Introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging;
- Adopt well-designed deposit return schemes (DRS) legislation for beverage containers combined with a 90% separate collection target;
- Adopt well-designed EPR legislation for textiles;
- Introduce legal measures ensuring effective Mixed Waste Sorting (MWS) prior to incineration, including a meaningful CO2 tax on plastic incineration. Moreover, Tomra recommends that energy recovery from plastic not contribute towards achieving recycling targets, nor be defined as renewable energy;
- Introduce legal measures ensuring effective MWS prior to landfill, including landfill plastic taxes or bans where alternative treatment is available;
- Introduce legal measures ensuring closed-loop, or high-quality, recycling, including financial incentives for use of recycled plastic and strict export/import control for waste and recycled plastic.
- Ensure independent institutions control the transparent reporting and measurement of achievements based on well-defined global industry standards.
Tomra’s recommendations come amid a long-awaited first draft of what will be discussed in November in Kenya surfaced earlier this month. A coalition of global plastics groups expressed concern about an ‘absence of options’ to accelerate plastics circularity, whilst environmental groups praised calls for ‘progressive reduction’ in plastics manufacturing but warned against relying too much on voluntary national action. Both these were also topic of discussion during the second round of UN Treaty negotiations (INC-2), that took place in Paris this May. The INC began its work during the second half of 2022, with the ambition to complete the negotiations by the end of 2024.
“It is evident that voluntary and current mainstream approaches are not enough to address the issue of plastic pollution, despite increased efforts over the past decade,” said Jacob Rognhaug, vice president systems design at Tomra. “Fortunately, high-performing systems have been developed, and, through these, we have identified 10 specific recommendations for the international legally binding instrument to accelerate progress around the world,” he added.
On top of giving its recommendations, in joint work with waste management consultancy Eunomia, Tomra also identified three key elements in top performing waste management solutions. These are: deposit return schemes, which result in 90% or above plastic collection rates; the separate collection of organic, textile, e-wate, paper, and glass; mixed waste sorting prior to disposal, couples with mechanical recycling.