Waste is all around us

We really need those waste-awareness days.

World Cleanup Day. Millions of people join in to collect tonnes of rubbish. Luckily clean-up initiatives are happening often all over the world.

I regularly organise my own family clean-up event. During our last one I noticed that most of the rubbish we found was in nature; in a flowerbed, around a tree, in bushes or on grass.

But waste is all around us, even if we can’t see it. Do you know what happens to your rubbish that you have thrown into the bin?

Let’s deep dive into our waste.

🌍Waste management & recycling around the world

Europe snapshot:

38% of waste in the EU goes to a recycling facility.

Top 4 waste-producing countries in Europe:
1 = Germany
2 = France
3 = Italy
4 = Poland

Perhaps surprisingly, the total tonnes of waste per person in Europe includes Nordic countries:
1 = Finland
2 = Bulgaria
3 = Sweden
(volume includes mineral and mining residue)

Legal frameworks: in place

• The EU’s Waste Framework Directive aims to increase recycling to a minimum of 55% in 2025. The Directive now also includes: “extended producer responsibility”
• The EU Green Deal will review certain waste laws to ensure they are in line with climate targets

France snapshot:

• 42% of household waste goes to a recycling facility
• Mixed recycling has been implemented nationwide = collecting all dry recycling materials in one bin. As of January 2024, compost recycling facilities should be available within walking distance for all households
• Key problems: high volume of household rubbish and lack of household education to recycle properly

England snapshot:

• 42%-44% of household waste goes to a recycling facility
• Each council manages rubbish slightly differently. There is mixed recycling and separated recycling. Households should have compost recycling facilities provided for curbside pick-up
• Key problems: discrepancies in recycling practices between different councils & confusing household messaging about recycling

US snapshot:

• 32% of household waste goes to a recycling facility. But it is estimated that only 5-6% is actually recycled
• There is no national directive for recycling to benchmark against. Each state, and often, local government implements its own policies. Some states will fine local recycling plants if recyclable materials are mixed in with non-recyclable rubbish
• Curbside recycling programs are popular. These have to be set-up by each local community and relevant funding has to be applied for
• Key problems: inconsistent recycling practices between states, outdated processes and lack of household education

India snapshot:

• It is impossible to quantify how much of India’s total waste makes it to a recycling plant. But official policies are in place; waste management is overseen by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change. Recycling is managed under the Environment Protection Act of 1986
• There are set values to understand: ‘sustainable development, ‘precaution’ and ‘polluter pays’
• Key problems: waste output is set to rise by 4% every year, there is a sheer lack of rubbish collecting services, with only 21 million of them for a population of 1.4 billion, lack of sophisticated sorting technology, lack of infrastructure of actual recycling plants and lack of household education

(Sources: EC,  Service Publique, Statista, Euro News, The University of Manchester, Gov UK, CRM, CBS News,  Recycling Partnership, CleanHub, MoEFCC, Next IAS, ISWA)

♻️Corporate waste recycling

Corporate waste has a specific pattern that needs separate facilities, support and communication. There is little information available about this. But business-waste management services are starting to pop-up, so that companies can manage their rubbish better.

• In London there is a B-corp certified waste-management company that disposes of rubbish for businesses, called First Mile
• There are also waste tracking companies where business can digitally track and monitor their waste

(Other sources: Rubbish Portal)

🚢Exporting waste to… dump!

• Waste doesn’t always go to a recycling facility. Western countries export a chunk of their rubbish to developing countries
• Developed countries don’t want to incinerate garbage because of the carbon footprint of burning it, so they dump it far away instead
• The logistics, the packing and the shipment of dumping waste = wasted time, energy and money spent
• The dumpee countries don’t have robust waste-management policies nor stringent legislation in place
• Luckily, changes are slowly coming. China implemented a ban on imported plastic waste back in 2018 and more countries have followed suit
  • Soon, Vietnam, where a lot of rubbish is still going, is implementing the ban in 2025
• Waste-dumping disputes have left millions of tonnes of plastic rubbish in limbo in shipping containers, rotting as it waits with toxins seeping out

(Sources: The Guardian, Research Gate, CNN)

🙌Solutions: what’s next for waste?

• We talk about ‘waste management’ and how this should be done effectively. But today we are still at the ‘waste mismanagement’ phase. Each country and each region needs to understand what is mismanaged and go from there
• International and national governments should take the lead to make more funding available for recycling and transparent waste management
• It sounds obvious but it is not necessarily the case, to have separate treatment facilities for household rubbish, recyclables, organic matter, biomedical waste and hazardous material
• The industry can learn from other waste sectors, e.g. the waste-water sector to understand what processes are followed there
• Enforce waste frameworks, treaties and policies that are legally binding
  • For example, adopt the Basel Convention (1992) – controls the movements of hazardous waste and disposal, and amended in 2021 to regulate dumping where only clean and recyclable elements can be traded internationally
  • Track waste. There is an Atlas of Plastic Waste to spot and map out the dumping grounds of global garbage = more targeted action

🙌Waste needs

• Education, training and attractive remuneration for workers in this sector is key to progress waste management
  • Earlier this year, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) released a report that revealed a growing skills and labour shortage within waste and recycling. The sector is not seen as attractive for careers and a “lack of understanding” of its importance and the breadth of roles available is working against progress in the waste-management industry

• We need to create a circular effect for goods to address all the steps in the waste loop: production, consumption, disposal, reuse and effective recycling options
  • Education on circular living is necessary, so consumers can make better choices from purchase to disposal
• Closed-loop systems are needed
  • What is this? When byproducts between two companies in a supply chain are used to maximise the partnership to close the loop between them. Waste from one company can be a raw material for another
• On the business side more focused waste-management facilities are needed and businesses should adapt their processes to reuse and make waste more circular (from energy to physical output)

(Other sources: UCEM, The Basel Convention, Science Direct, CRM)

🙌Solutions: what’s next for recycling?

• More plastic is being produced today than it was yesterday. This is the source of the problem. Plastic production should be phased out urgently
  • Most plastic is not recyclable and the plastics that are can only be recycled 1-3 times before the quality is too degraded to reuse
  • The recycling process -separating, melting, remoulding- is a very energy-intensive one
• Urge governments to commit to The Global Plastics Treaty to get something legally binding in place on plastic pollution. On that note, The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC)-5 will be held in The Republic of Korea in just a few weeks (25 November). Here, they will agree on the final text of the Treaty
• Recycling practices to be standardised per country and local authorities to ensure that a full-circle recycling process is in place
• Governments to implement policies that promote recycling, e.g. the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Plastics Strategy and the Waste Framework Directive
• Need producer transparency and hold greenwashing accountable. For example, when packaging is claimed to be made from recycled material, it really should be clear how much of it and what mix of material the packaging is made up of
• But mostly we should buy less, reuse what we can, and choose to buy products that are not wrapped up in waste

🎓Education!

• Educate households on how to recycle step-by-step
  • There are huge information gaps on how to separate waste
  • What goes in the recycling bin and how? For example, should packaging be rinsed, should you take the bottle tops off, is thin plastic film recycled…?
  • What doesn’t go in. For example, plastic bags can’t be recycled because they will malfunction the machines
  • Promote awareness initiatives, including Recycle Week (14-20 October) and Global Recycling Day (18 March)

(Other sources: LinkedIn)

💡Did you know?
Recycling in different countries is not the same. For example, in France you don’t need to rinse items before they go into the recycling bin, you just need to scrape off the worst, and thin food films also go into the recycling bin. And over in the US there is a type of black plastic, often used for takeaways, that can’t be recycled

🙌Solutions: what’s next for waste innovation?

• Focus on sustainable alternatives to plastic – redesign products with reuse in mind and with less to no plastic (most things don’t actually need plastic)
  • For example, a number of businesses are using the power of mycelium (fungal roots) to make robust packaging to eliminate styrofoam
• New promising recycling technology is being tested
  • For example, new techniques to better decontaminate material, GPS tracking, and AI processes such as robotic sorting
• For innovation in remanufacturing to happen, investment into reselling recycled material is needed to incentivise companies to come on board into the recycling market
• Updated technologies will help in all steps of the waste-management process from pick-up to the recycling processes to be able to process large volumes of rubbish accurately

(Sources: Next IAS, horizon europe, Climate Insider)

I’ll leave you to take a moment to think about your own household rubbish and how you recycle.

🔎To help you recycle better, check out the below. Make sure to look up a resource for your country and/or local authority!
Recycling Bins – UK
Earth Day recycling tips – US
Collecte Eco – France

See you at the next chapter! 🙌

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