Business case

Impact on increased knowledge and understanding as a result of the case study

Increase Awareness

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Processing and producing food and beverages for consumption

Food and Beverage

Designing to enable multiple uses and lifecycles of a product and its materials

Design for cyclability

Industry peers to industry peer collaboration to create joint value and identify synergies

Industry collaboration

Engage with the government on circular policies and programmes

Government collaboration

Designing products to remove any barriers to recycling and enable easy recyclability

Design for recycling

Designing products to be reused for the same or different purposes in multiple lifecycles

Design for reuse

Engaging in discussions with industry stakeholders to share circular economy best practices and push the industry towards greater circularity

Guidance, dialogue with industry stakeholders

Engaging in discussions with government bodies and policymakers to push for regulations that support the circular economy

Advocacy for circular economy policy

'Mobilise' sets the direction of and builds momentum towards long-term change, while also determining how this direction is determined and governed.

Mobilise

Govern the Transition

Institutional design to enable circularity

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policies

medium_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

small_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

thumbnail_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

At Plastics Recycling World Expo on 3-4 June 2020 in Essen, Germany, a delegation of the Ghanaian plastics and recycling industry will discuss development priorities. In this article, the group’s technical partner in the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia outlines progress being made in Ghana’s plastics recycling sector.  Even though the waste collected in Ghana more than doubled nationwide between 2006 and 2013, the share still remains at a low level. According to the Sustainable Development Goals Baseline Report from 2018, even in cities only around one-third of the growing quantities of waste is taken to dumpsites and the few sanitary landfills whose capacities are becoming increasingly scarce. A considerable portion is simply burnt under an open sky. Due to poor solid waste management, plastic waste like sachet water bags, water bottles, food boxes from Styrofoam and any amount of plastic bags is widespread on roadsides, clogging drains and littering beaches, causing health and flood risks. To turn such challenges into opportunities, the Ghanaian government is determined to leapfrog from waste disposal to a circular economy. In October 2019, as the first African nation, Ghana formally joined the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum and supported, amongst others, by the Development Programme of the United Nations (UNDP).Since 2007, the German federal state North Rhine-Westphalia has maintained a partnership with Ghana, bringing together government institutions, universities, local governments, NGOs and companies from both sides. The German technical cooperation, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has played a prominent role in shaping the collaboration around climate and resource protection through projects supported financially by the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia. Against this background, it was more than logical that GIZ took up the request from the Ghanaian Ministry for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) to develop a project on sustainable management of plastics and to convene an international stakeholder forum in January 2018 in Accra. The main aim: To discuss with competent stakeholders the ministry’s first draft of a national plastics policy and to contribute experience gained in this field in Germany. Looking back, this forum has generated a strong momentum and raised public awareness for the urgency of tackling the challenges related to plastic littering the environment. As part of the project, GIZ piloted in collaboration with the local NGO Environment360 and with informal scrap dealers in Kumasi an incentive and take-back scheme to test a viable business model for recovering PET bottles littering the environment for recycling. PET bottles were chosen because even the informal waste pickers did not show interest in collecting them due to their volume and low weight. Having successfully tested the scheme, it can now be used for upscaling and including other types of plastics as well. To make representatives from private and public sector more familiar with the political framework conditions and technical options for managing the plastic value chain in a circular economy, GIZ organized in June 2018 a technical visit for a delegation from Ghana to North Rhine-Westphalia. On the occasion of WACEE’19, the West African Clean Energy and Environment fair and conference in Accra, MESTI and GIZ convened a second stakeholder forum on 8 November 2019. The aim was to discuss how the different stakeholders are contributing already to recovering and recycling plastics and the challenges they are facing for upscaling: plastic producers, food and beverage industry, recyclers, waste collectors, NGOs, start-ups, and local governments. The challenges plastic recyclers are facing are diverse: they range from plastic material that is not coded or locally recyclable, and extremely high interest rates for financing investments in recycling technology and high import taxes, to poor collection infrastructure and the absence of an extended producer responsibility system. In spite of these obstacles, the Ghanaian industry is recognising the potential of recycling and is becoming increasingly interested in plastic waste as a secondary raw material. To promote recycling and second-life solutions to reduce the impacts of post-consumption waste on the environment, a group of eight international companies from the chemical as well as food and beverage industry has taken the initiative and founded the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprise (GRIPE), established under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI). The Plastics Recycling World Exhibition 2020, taking place on 3-4 June 2020 in Essen, Germany, which is Europe’s leading focused event for plastics recycling, provides an excellent opportunity to get to know innovative technological solutions and to establish business contacts. Within the scope of the project, GIZ will therefore invite a delegation of the Ghanaian plastics and recycling industry to the trade-show. For meetings, the delegation will have its own exhibition booth and will be discussing the potential for co-operation in a specific side-event.Although Ghana has still a long way to go, important steps have been initiated to pave the way towards a circular economy. Progress can even be witnessed at Accra’s beaches where more and more PET bottles are collected for recycling. For more information contact [email protected]

Approximately 13 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the oceans annually, equivalent to one garbage truck load every minute. Even worse, the Pew Charitable Foundation estimates the volume of plastics finding its way into the world’s oceans will triple by 2040.
Some experts believe the solution lies in creating circular economies, which eliminate single-use plastic in favor of organic materials or plastics that can be recycled and reused. But that requires significant investment and infrastructure. 
In Africa less than 20 percent of plastics are recycled currently, far below European Union targets of 50 percent by 2025. In lieu of formal recycling operations, waste pickers collect litter and sell it to middlemen, who aggregate plastic waste and sell it to recyclers abroad.
But Ghana - with a 5 percent recycling rate - has emerged as a regional front runner committed to creating a domestic recycling industry that protects both the environment and impoverished, mostly-female, community of waste pickers. Last fall, Ghana became the first African country to join World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP).  At a recent World Economic Forum Sustainable Development Impact Summit event, Plastics: From Global Vision to Local Action, panelists representing a coalition of government, manufacturers, technology providers, and non-profit organizations discussed how Ghana is driving change.
“We see plastic waste as a threat to our way of life and danger to environment,” said Oliver Boachie, Special Advisor from the Ghanaian Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI). “But we also look at this as an opportunity.” 
Since 2018, the government has been working on a plastics waste program that aims to clean up environment, create jobs in plastics value chain, make resources available to manage plastics and ensure no one gets left behind. 
Global software provider, SAP SE, is also a member of GPAP and has collaborated with MESTI, private industry and local non-profits to create a technology solution that will help. 
“The recycling systems in Ghana are very analog so we’re building a digital system to connect everyone and track the volumes and types of plastic, where it goes, and the prices paid across the value chain,” said Maggie Buggie, Chief Business Officer of SAP Services.
With a foundation of reliable data, the government and private companies can determine where to invest resources and build recycling plants, while also monitoring waste pickers’ wages and living conditions. 
“By connecting the informal economy of waste pickers to the formal economy, we can ensure they receive a fair wage – and later on – get services like training or childcare,” said Buggie.
Making the Invisible Visible: Improving Pickers lives
Waste picking is a means of survival for poor, urban communities across Africa, South East Asia and Latin America. In Ghana, they recover at least 218 tonnes daily or nearly 12 percent of the total plastic waste generated.
But they have little visibility into the market price for what they’ve collected, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation by middlemen. With the SAP solution, they will have mobile access to the average price for different kinds of materials. The government can use this data to monitor wages and take action to support pickers, for example, investing in social services that raise pickers’ living standards.
Jeffery Provencal founded rePATRN, a social enterprise that works with pickers. “We’re on the verge of an absolute game changer. We have a lack of data and the SAP solution is the best thing for it – one platform that provides all that data,” said Provencal. “We can find an efficient way to deal with the material, monetize it, and empower the waste pickers. So everyone wins.”
Private Sector Partners To Achieve Sustainability Goals 
Adwoa Coleman, Africa Sustainability and Advocacy Manager for Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, explains how technology will help the Ghanaian government and manufacturers achieve their sustainability goals. 
“We have a goal that one million metric tons of plastics will be collected, recycled or reused by 2030,” said Coleman. “Data is critical to establishing a market where plastic can be bought and sold, depending on where that’s happening. Harnessing that data in one app will help fuel the circular economy and ensure that collected materials are reused.”
But success requires cooperation. “Stakeholder collaboration is important – we (not only) have the government, private sector and NGOs, but also the collector and recycler. To succeed, we need to all be at the table,” she said.
Coca Cola also has big environmental ambitions. For example, it wants all its packaging materials to be recyclable by 2035 — and has a specific perspective on what that means in West Africa. “Exportation of plastic and packaging waste out of Africa is not sustainable,” said Clement Ugorji, vice president for public affairs, communications and sustainability. “We need the domestic capacity for collection and recycling and reuse on the continent. That’s the only way to achieve a truly circular economy for Africa.”
For its part, SAP believes its experience in the region developing its SAP Rural Sourcing Management (an application that supports small-holder farmers and improves visibility across agricultural value chains) gives it an advantage. Since plastic pickers and rural farmers face similar issues, applications like this will help all parties succeed.
The plastics recycling pilot project will run in Accra and several smaller cities in Ghana. Building on what is learned during this first stage, the coalition hopes to expand across Ghana, West Africa and eventually the entire continent and other regions. 

 	 Government will join the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), a new initiative created by a coalition of influential public and private leaders to fast-track plastic pollution action around the world.
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed this Wednesday at a press briefing said President Akufo-Addo, and the Environment Minister, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng will formally launch the initiative on October 1 in Accra.
GPAP is hosted at the World Economic Forum.
Ghana, under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI) is in the process of adopting a National Plastic Management Policy that will leverage the comprehensive management of plastics to drive sustainable development, green job creation, and environmental protection.
Therefore, Ghana has been selected as a natural first engagement in Africa for the Global Plastics Action Partnership.
As one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and a leading political and economic force in Africa, Ghana has the potential to catalyze a new era of plastic action across the continent.
The Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership will launch in close coordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform, which will promote sustainable waste recovery in Ghana through connecting stakeholders across the waste management chain.
The Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership and the UNDP ‘Waste’ Recovery Platform will support the existing work being carried out by the government of Ghana, as well as successful initiatives being led by entrepreneurs and civil society actors at the local level, to accelerate the reduction of plastic waste and pollution in Ghana.
About the Ghana National Plastics Management Policy
– Ghana’s first National Plastics Management Policy aims to use the comprehensive management of plastics across their life-cycle and value-chain as a vehicle for sustainable development, enabling a shift towards a plastics circular economy.
– The Policy lays a foundation to enable the creation of an entirely new industry for redesigning, recovering and recycling plastics, preventing pollution of our environment and communities and creating many new jobs in the green economy.
– The Implementation Plan of the National Plastics Management Policy starts with a national communication strategy to change our behaviour on how we manage plastics. The next focus will be on mobilizing finances and innovation to enable new business models for sustainably managing plastics and supporting communities and companies to coordinate and plan for a circular plastics economy. Lastly, the implementation of the Policy establishes robust frameworks for good governance and shared accountability across society.
– The Ghana National Plastics Action Partnership will be supporting the Government of Ghana to implement its ambitious roadmap for a circular plastics economy, captured in the National Plastics Management Policy.
About the Global Plastic Action Partnership
– The Global Plastic Action Partnership envisions a world free of plastic waste and pollution. It represents one of the most powerful and concerted efforts working internationally to address this issue, bringing together public, private, and civil society leaders to translate commitments into concrete action.
– The goal of the Ghana NPAP is to dramatically reduce the country’s plastic waste and pollution, and to fast-track progress towards zero leakage of waste into the environment, especially the ocean. The Ghana NPAP will support the government and businesses in transitioning to a circular economy for plastics, which will fundamentally change the way plastics are manufactured, used, and re-used.
– The transition to a circular plastics economy will spur job creation in the manufacturing and innovation industries, promote public health and wellbeing, boost tourism and investment, and support Ghana’s progress towards achieving a number of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Source: https://www.myjoyonline.com 

Ghana

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages.

thumbnail_blob

blob

Coca Cola

Nestlé S.A. is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 2014. 

Nestle 

Government of Ghana

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives in all its efforts to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest while upholding the highest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does.

World Economic Forum

Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP)

Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprise (GRIPE)

Association of Ghana Industries (AGI)

Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England.

 Unilever

Guiness Ghana

Fan Milk

Voltic

PZ Cussons

In October 2019, Ghana formally joined the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum. Additionally, to promote recycling and second-life solutions to reduce the impacts of post-consumption waste on the environment, a group of eight international companies from the chemical as well as food and beverage industry has taken the initiative and founded the Ghana Recycling Initiative by Private Enterprise (GRIPE), established under the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).

Circular plastics in Ghana

small_20210526 - CJI logo - 185x600px-01.png

thumbnail_20210526 - CJI logo - 185x600px-01.png

20210526 - CJI logo - 185x600px-01.png

This collection comes from the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>, an initiative of Circle Economy.

The workforce is an essential lever for transforming our economy from linear to circular. The Circular Jobs Initiative aims to maximise the employment opportunities offered by the circular economy. It provides practical support and insights to businesses and governments that want to adopt circular strategies that have a positive social impact.The Circular Jobs Initiative works through three focus areas: 

- Upskilling the workforce

- Quality of work

- Inclusive job opportunities 

CJI has defined circular jobs as any occupation that directly involves or indirectly supports one of the strategies of the circular economy. It distinguishes between three types of circular jobs: core, enabling and indirectly circular jobs.

**Core circular jobs** are all jobs that ensure the closure of raw material cycles, including jobs in repair, renewable energy, waste and resource management. 

**‍Enabling circular jobs** are jobs that remove barriers for and enable the acceleration and upscaling of core circular activities, including jobs that arise in leasing, education, design and digital technology. 

**Indirectly circular jobs** are jobs that occur in other sectors that do not play a direct role in furthering the transition to the circular economy but can still adopt circular strategies. They include jobs that provide services to core circular strategies, including jobs in information services, logistics and the public sector.

The Knowledge Hub Collection includes examples of circular jobs, publications, reports, case studies and policies different organisations, governments and businesses are already using to advocate for a person-centred circular economy. 

Visit the <a href="https://www.circle-economy.com/circular-jobs-initiative/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Initiative</a>

Visit the <a href="http://jobsmonitor.circle-economy.com/" target="_blank">Circular Jobs Monitor</a>

20210526 - CJI vignette - circle crop - 120x120px.png

Circular Jobs Initiative

large_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

medium_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

small_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

thumbnail_shutterstock_406114573.jpg

shutterstock_406114573.jpg

Policy case

Impact on the quantity or quality of jobs, and shifts in the labour market

Jobs

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

'Incentivise' sends market signals and support to businesses, citizens and governments to promote certain activities.

Incentivise

Public-private partnerships

Economic Frameworks

 The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has launched the Ghana National Plastics Action Partnership, which seeks to stop the growth of global plastic pollution, and also ensure, amongst others, that plastics do not find their way into the country’s marine bodies. Speaking at the launch of the initiative on Tuesday, 1st October, 2019, at the Labadi Beach Hotel, President Akufo-Addo noted that the menace of plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing challenges facing mankind today. With the menace affecting the day-to-day activities of the human race, the President indicated that confronting this challenge demands the active partnership and co-operation of all nations. “When I took office in 2017, I requested the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, headed by its Minister, the globally acclaimed Ghanaian scientist, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, to develop an effective strategy to meet the challenges associated with the management of plastic waste in Ghana,” he said. The President continued, “The result is the National Plastics Management Policy of Ghana, whose blue-print has attracted the attention of the global community, and has led us to this exciting partnership with the World Economic Forum.” Ghana’s Plastic Management Policy, he explained, is not focussed only on how to address plastic waste, but takes also a holistic view of the entire value chain of plastics, and seeks to achieve several objectives. Amongst them are to develop a working circular economy framework for plastics in Ghana; to reduce Ghana’s reliance on the use of plastics and promote their replacement with green alternatives; to nurture the development of new business models for job creation throughout the value chain; to develop systems and infrastructure across the country that will ensure that we are not littering our plastic waste, but using them as resources for value-addition; and to ensure that Ghana has a long-term and sustainable means of funding plastic waste management. Through Ghana’s partnership with the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), President Akufo-Addo was confident that progress will be fast-tracked in Ghana “towards that collective goal, which is to achieve zero leakage of plastic waste into our oceans and waterways.” The President, thus, pledged the full commitment of the Government of Ghana towards the successful implementation of the programme, that will be outlined under National Plastics Action Partnership (NPAP). “Whilst the eventual outcome of NPAP will be owned by the people of Ghana, it is my expectation that its example will contribute to the resolution of this problem on the African continent, and be a shining example of the global achievements of GPAP,” he added. President Akufo-Addo, in his address, also applauded the initiatives being taken by private sector operators to build plastic waste recycling plants, to create bio-fuels that are being used as alternatives to fossil fuels that pollute the environment, and produce building blocks that are used to construct roads and pavements. He also acknowledged the efforts being made by civil society and the media to raise awareness of efficient waste management, and existing opportunities for waste recovery in our country. “Government is ready to partner with all stakeholders, especially private sector and academia, to drive investment and research into this area. I believe that there is the need for significant behavioural change, and I am happy with the prominence that has been given to it in the implementation plan of the draft National Plastics Management Policy,” he added. President Akufo-Addo thanked the Ghana Office of the United Nations Development Programme is to be saluted for facilitating the establishment of the “Waste Recovery Platform” for Ghana, and also the Governments of the United Kingdom and of Canada for their commitment and financial support for the GPAP initiative. He reiterated that “Ghana, after this process, will make best efforts to be a model for other countries in the region and on the continent on issues related to plastic management.”  	

UNDP

Ghana’s first National Plastics Management Policy aims to use the comprehensive management of plastics across their life-cycle and value-chain as a vehicle for sustainable development, enabling a shift towards a plastics circular economy. The Policy lays a foundation to enable the creation of an entirely new industry for redesigning, recovering and recycling plastics, preventing pollution of the environment and communities and creating many new jobs in the green economy.

Ghana’s first National Plastics Management Policy 

Article / Report

Raise awareness and run information campaigns about  strategies for and impacts of the circular economy in different contexts.

Communication and awareness

An inclusive labour market that provides opportunities for people in precarious work, that are distant from or at risk of being phased out of the labour market, as well as workers across skill levels, regardless of their location.

Inclusive job opportunities

If managed well, the transition to the circular economy will have multiple benefits for the labour market, including the opening up of job opportunities, raising job standards and reducing inequalities through a global redistribution of value. But a positive transition to circularity for work and workers must be underpinned by three pillars: upskilling the workforce, quality of work and inclusive job opportunities. Find out more and explore cases that illustrate these pillars below.

Circular Jobs Initiative Pillars

large_61791a640bc7e355853af058_shutterstock_1135948928 (1)-min-p-1080.jpeg

medium_61791a640bc7e355853af058_shutterstock_1135948928 (1)-min-p-1080.jpeg

small_61791a640bc7e355853af058_shutterstock_1135948928 (1)-min-p-1080.jpeg

thumbnail_61791a640bc7e355853af058_shutterstock_1135948928 (1)-min-p-1080.jpeg

61791a640bc7e355853af058_shutterstock_1135948928 (1)-min-p-1080.jpeg

A positive transition to circularity for work and workers must be underpinned by three core pillars.

Use of Harvard Analytical Framework for Gender Analysis to identify the gender roles and responsibilities of men and women along the value chain.