Who hasn't heard it? Asia's informal doorstep collectors, waste truck crews and landfill scavengers basically recycle most of the plastic waste. Problem solved, right?
That would be sensational! But figures tell a different story.
FIGURES
1. Thailand (2018) - 8,000 tons of plastic waste per day = 3.2 mt p.y. - 12 million water plastic bottles per day = 4.4 bn p.y.
2. Germany (2016) - 3.1mt of plastic packaging waste - 36% recycled today, new law enforces 63% starting 2022
CONCLUSION Germany recycles just 36% of it's 3.1 mt plastic packaging, despite levy systems, industrial scale, highly mechanized private sector investments and a public waste infrastructure worth billions of Euros. And ASEAN? Most collectors are self sustaining, unemployed, uninsured.
PRIORITIES FOR ACTION Industry: #1 Reduction of use #2 phasing out hazardous compounds, #3 Innovative new products Governments: #1 pave and ease the way for private sector investments into value recovery from waste, #2 enhance private sector competition for quality and efficiency, #3 support innovation
SOLUTIONS on www.cbethai.com
SOURCES 1. Thai Min.of Nat. Res.and Env. and Poll.Ctrl.Dept. https://lnkd.in/fvcMEtU 2. German Fed. Env.Min. https://lnkd.in/f_sv4-C
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