getting to zero:
How ambitious recycling targets can combat global plastic pollution
Today, only 9% of plastic finds its way back into the production cycle after it has been thrown away — a far cry from the target the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive has set (50% of plastic to be recycled by 2025 and 55% by 2030). In anticipation of the third round of negotiations for the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution, where delegates from around the world will gather in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss the terms of the Treaty, TOMRA has published 10 recommendations for consideration.
One of the ten TOMRA recommendations is to "Ensure specific ambitious mandatory recycling targets for high performance systems, providing realistic, strict timelines for all countries at their individual development stage. Set a minimum 55% recycling rate target for plastic packaging. This will help to ensure that resources are spent on efficient initiatives towards a sustainable circular economy for plastic."
To meet the Treaty's goal of fighting plastic pollution, specific targets must be set. Ambitious recycling targets have not only shown to kickstart effective waste management systems, benefiting both circular performance and cost efficiency, but have also proven to help align stakeholders in both private and public sectors, ensuring predictability and encouraging investment and innovation.
Meaningful recycling targets offer a practical way to monitor progress and ensure ongoing improvements in recycling rates. They also hold governments and companies accountable for their sustainability commitments, offering strong incentives to decrease or eliminate high leakage (the amount of plastic that is not effectively captured or recycled) and non-recyclable plastic.
Now, what exactly constitutes a meaningful set of targets?
Important criteria for setting recycling targets
It is critical that targets are set high enough to motivate the development and implementation of systems that can effectively address all post-consumer plastic packaging waste - systems such as deposit return systems, and mixed waste sorting coupled with advanced mechanical recycling, which can be fine-tuned to reach even higher recycling rates while maximizing the benefits of design for recycling initiatives. Clear definitions of scope, alongside ambitious targets, are the foundation of successful extended producer responsibility schemes; they encourage producers who are responsible for the end-of-life management of their products and packaging to include sustainability considerations during the design phase so that they can reach the established targets. On the other hand, if targets are set too low, it is likely that only existing systems with limited performance potential will be implemented, rather than striving for something better.
The UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution should include a framework that reviews and revises these targets within realistic timelines. Here are some important aspects that must be considered when setting comprehensive targets for plastic waste:
- Existing infrastructure in each region, as well as the type of systems and investments needed to meet targets. In regions with less established infrastructure and pre-existing systems, the implementation of effective systems may be easier and quicker. Incrementally increasing targets over time not only drives investments into infrastructure but also promotes innovation. This phased approach provides stakeholders with the time needed to adapt and scale up their efforts.
- The recyclability of different types of plastic packaging. Clear, ambitious, and realistic targets that address the full spectrum of plastic materials are essential to drive the development of recycling systems and promote product and packaging re-design. These recycling targets should be tailored to all packaging formats and integrated with recycled content targets and collection objectives, such as achieving a 100% overall collection rate and a 90% separate collection rate for beverage containers.
- What counts and what does not count towards recycling. When plastic is collected, sorted, and reprocessed into raw materials for new products and packaging, it counts as recycling. Energy recovery, on the other hand, should not be classified as recycling.
- Clear definitions on how performance is calculated against recycling targets. To ensure accurate data, it is best to measure the product material output from the recycling process in relation to the total volumes placed on the market.
Meaningful targets accelerate the implementation of proven systems to combat pollution
Governments can’t afford to spend time and money implementing systems that won’t deliver maximum recycling rates and the most significant reduction in CO2 emissions to meet ambitious targets. The combination of three elements, known as Holistic Resource System (HRS), provides field-proven results with global potential. Designed to maximize environmental and economic benefits through recycling, HRS, supported by strong extended producer responsibility policies, offer significant potential to meet and exceed targets as cost-effectively as possible, create market certainty, stimulate investment, and ultimately transition towards a circular economy.
Holistic Resource Systems integrate:
- Deposit return systems, which provide consumers with a financial incentive to return commonly littered items and produce much higher plastic collection rates when compared to other separate collections of the same materials;
- The separate collection of organic, textile, e-waste, paper and glass (also known as source separated collections);
- And mixed waste sorting, a previously underutilized process that can rescue finite resources from household waste by sorting and extracting recyclable materials prior to disposal in landfills or incinerators, and, when combined with advanced mechanical recycling, create virgin-like recycled plastic.
Implemented together, these three systems can deliver both high performance and cost efficiency for individual countries across various development phases. Moreover, they can help to facilitate a "just transition" toward a circular economy—a transition that is equitable and beneficial for everyone, from producers and industry, to municipalities, and waste pickers.
The UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution is set to be finalized in 2024. Now is the time for stakeholders across the plastics value chain to take action and support the development of a truly effective instrument. By setting ambitious yet realistic recycling targets that are reviewed regularly and increased over time, governments will be incentivized to introduce systems that have proven to significantly boost recycling rates and reduce plastic pollution. Ultimately, this binding Treaty could have a tremendous impact on the plastic pollution crisis for many years to come - let's ensure that the impact is a positive and powerful one.