ECO-LEF is a public scheme for the collection and recycling of packaging waste that is provided in collaboration with local municipalities and the informal economy. Since 2001, the national waste management agency, ANGeD (Agence Nationale de Gestion des Déchets), has run the ECO-LEF scheme. Furthermore, companies that bring packaged goods to the market may choose to contribute to ECO-LEF on a voluntary basis, but they are not required to do so. Due to a decrease in quantities of collected waste, the system is undergoing a process of reform.

In the last decades, the living conditions in Tunisia had improved which, among others, resulted in high population growth and in urban expansion. The high population density in urban areas led to an increase in solid waste management problem. Most of Tunisia's landfill dumping sites are uncontrolled which led to unrecycled and undisposed waste harming the environment.

In 2014, the Tunisian government initiated a decentralisation process to create new municipalities for a new level of decision-making. Since then, waste management has partly become the responsibility of the municipalities. The ECO-Lef was created to reduce the landfilling of packaging waste, limiting the negative impact of waste on the environment and promoting proper waste disposal. In practice, the scheme allows the private sector to collect packaging waste by creating micro-enterprises that collect and sell the collected goods to ANGeD. Rag pickers, also known as "Barbecha," harvest the majority of the amounts from households or landfills. Following that, the agency ensures a fair allocation of these amounts to authorized recyclers who are licensed by the system at a reduced rate. The sale terms and rates are spelt out in a collection and recycling agreement signed by both parties, namely ANGeD and the business in question. 70% to 90% of the collected plastic waste is recovered, depending on the polymer form.

Informal collectors/waste pickers, who gather recyclable fractions from containers and/or landfills without having any legal status, currently drive almost entirely the recycling industry. However, because these pickers do not have access to ECO-LEF's facilities, they are forced to sell their recyclables to intermediaries at lower prices than they would otherwise receive. Since 2009, the amount of recyclable materials produced under the system has decreased which led to the upcoming reforms in the process.