Poor waste management infrastructure is a major contributor to global plastic
pollution, and the situation is getting worse. Inundated by plastic waste,
countries such as China, Malaysia and Indonesia recently announced
that they will no longer accept plastic waste
imports.
Meanwhile, rising costs are forcing some municipalities in the United States to
suspend recycling
programs.
While some countries have taken measures to cut down on waste, it’s not enough.
We need to fundamentally change our approach to consumption, moving from a
linear system that consumes and disposes of plastics, to a circular
economy that
reuses and repurposes these materials, generating new
value
for society. An important part of this shift will be developing and piloting
replicable frameworks for circular innovation that will empower communities
around the world to achieve zero-waste, particularly those that are
disproportionately impacted by plastic pollution.
We’re already seeing momentum in pockets of society. On an industry level,
companies are beginning to respond to consumer demands for environmental
sustainability by adopting circular business models and developing innovative
products that reduce waste. We’re also witnessing instances of communities
leveraging zero-waste models to convert plastic waste into valuable resources,
particularly in parts of the developing world.
One example is Project MASARO, a unique collaboration between
Dow and Professor Zainal Abidin
of the Bandung Institute of Technology, which is working to create
closed-loop, circular economies for waste in Indonesia. MASARO, which is
Indonesian for “zero waste,” applies locally available technologies to turn
post-consumer plastic into valuable byproducts for use in agriculture, farming
and energy. In an initial pilot at a boarding school in West Java,
participants collected and converted 8,800 pounds of plastic waste into 8,800
liters of fertilizer and 90 liters of fuel, which have been sold or used to
benefit the community. The initiative has also trained more than 2,000 students
and teachers in proper recycling and waste management behaviors, with the goal
of training 12,000 individuals in the area. If implemented globally, this
framework could reduce costs for local governments and relieve some of the
burden on global recycling infrastructures.
Similarly, we’ve partnered with NGOs in Brazil on Recycling for Change to
develop a professional development and strategic support model that is enabling
waste-picker cooperatives to become more sustainable and profitable; while
benefiting individuals, families and communities. On average, we aim to increase participating waste pickers’ monthly income from R$700 (~US$169) to
R$2,000 (~US$480). In its current form, the initiative has the potential to
benefit hundreds of families along the waste management value chain — but the
economic and environmental impact would be even greater if scaled to other parts
of Latin America and the developing world.
For the moment, these initiatives are in the pilot stages. However, governments,
NGOs and corporations can help to scale these frameworks and pave the way for
broader adoption of circular economy practices. If similar practices were
adopted in other regions of the world, it would set the stage for widespread
social and environmental change, empowering organizations to address major
global challenges such as plastic pollution, poor infrastructure or unequal
access to education. Companies in the plastics value chain have an important
role to play in supporting these efforts, since we have the resources, partner
ecosystem, and technological expertise to create, scale and tailor circular
frameworks to meet the unique needs of different communities.
At Dow, we’re dedicated to achieving a circular economy, but the plastic
industry can’t reach this goal alone. It’s imperative we all work together,
leveraging expertise from governments, corporations, NGOs, academics and
consumers from around the world. By helping to incentivize, develop and scale
circular and environmentally beneficial projects such as MASARO and Recycling for a Change, we can maximize the value of waste, empower communities and create a
more sustainable future.
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APAC Sustainability Director, Packaging and Specialty Plastics
Dow
Published Aug 29, 2019 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST