Policy Brief: Waste Management

As of 2015, approximately 6.3 billion metric tons (Mt) of plastic waste had been generated, around 12% of
which had been incinerated, 79% accumulated in landfills or the natural environment, and just 9% recycled. The OECD estimates that under a business-as-usual scenario, global plastic waste will grow to over 1 billion Mt annually by 2060.2 Reducing production and consumption of plastics should be prioritised, but comprehensive waste management must also be ensured for plastics at their end-of-life. A cohesive design, use, and post-use management strategy will be needed. Potential outcomes for plastic waste must be coordinated in a safe, environmentally sound, and circular system to keep plastics in their highest value state for as long as possible. This requires complementary forms of recycling, enabled by plastics designed for circularity, including its chemical composition, with improved collection and sorting for appropriate treatment. This policy brief draws on scientific evidence to set out the principles needed in an environmentally sound plastic waste management and recycling system.

Waste Management

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (3R) and Zero Waste Hierarchy principles prioritise reducing production/
  consumption of materials, then re-using objects, followed by improving recycling efforts. All three are needed in concert.
• There is no ‘one size fits all’ recycling system for waste plastics. The various potential end-of-life fates will have different environmental, economic, health, and climate impacts and energy demands.
• Safe, sustainable, and essential plastic waste management must be based on a hierarchy of end-of-life choices, aiming to maximise circularity. The negative impacts of landfill, incineration, and waste-to-energy fates are incompatible with sustainability goals and must be avoided wherever possible.
• Export of plastic waste as recyclate, primarily from high-income to low-income countries, is widespread, due to lower labour costs and health, safety and environment standards in receiving countries. While the 2019 Basel Convention plastic waste amendments intended to prohibit such exports, many will continue. This poses environmental/socio-economic risks through pollution, mismanagement, and transport.
• Undisclosed or unclear composition of waste negatively affects waste management outcomes. Segregated plastic waste is often collected but not recycled due to cross material/polymer contamination and insufficient sorting.
• Some bio-based plastics have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuel-based plastics, but end-of-life
  treatment options can be unclear, unsuitable, unsustainable, unsafe, or even negatively affect existing recycling systems.

Waste collection and sorting

• Regardless of treatment or disposal route, consistent collection of segregated waste is needed to minimise pollution and mismanagement. To tackle sources of pollution, priority should be given to communities, particularly in low and middle-income countries, that are underserved or unserved in waste collection.
• Sorting for reuse is the most direct way to ensure circularity and is preferred over recycling. Packaging design, (eco)labelling regulations, and pricing/deposit schemes can be used to enable reuse systems.
• Waste pickers play a key role in the collection and sorting process, recovering up to 60% of plastic waste recycled globally. They are a key player in low to middle-income countries as well as in some more developed nations.
• High-quality sorting will always be required for safer and more sustainable recycling.
  Contamination and mixing of plastic types, especially in household waste, are significant barriers to value retention that must be minimised.
• Multi-materials and chemicals, including POPs and additives, reduce the recyclability and sort ability of plastics.
• Recycling of food-grade material is challenging due to the dangers of contamination and inconsistent
  sorting.
• Emerging technologies, such as digital watermarking, AI sorting, or solvent washing could reduce
  contamination and improve sorting outcomes but require more evidence to show they work at scale.
  

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