This collection is being created to regroup all case studies related to the packaging industry (CAT purpose)

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Packaging collection

Article / Report

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

Jobs

Scalability

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)

Extracting resources and processing them to produce materials for use bysociety

Materials and Fuels

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

Chemical and Plastic

Refining and processing ores and producing ferrous and non-ferrous metal and glass products, including packaging

Metal and Glass

Utilise waste streams as a source of secondary resources and recover waste for reuse and recycling

Use waste as a resource

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

Design for cyclability

Engage with the local community where facilities or offices are located

Community collaboration

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

Design for recycling

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

Mobilise

Visions and Ambitions

Roadmaps and strategies and targets

Slow strategies aim to keep materials in use for as long as possible, for example through design for durability and repairability. A more circular economy is also a slower one: materials, components, and products—and even buildings and infrastructure—that we lock in stocks are made to last. This will lower material demand in the long run, in essence also serving to narrow resource flows.

Slow

Cycle strategies aim to cycle and reuse materials at their highest value: they maximise the volume of secondary materials re-entering the economy, ultimately minimising the need for virgin material inputs and therefore also narrowing flows. Of course, virgin materials will always be needed to a degree: all materials degrade and can’t be cycled infinitely, use energy, and require blending with virgin materials to maintain strength and functionality.

Cycle

Impacts

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Industries

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

Policy Instruments

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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

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

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Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

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Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, is known as the Garden City by its residents. Forests, savannah woodlands and botanical gardens break up the urban space and give a home to diverse species.But in recent years these green retreats have been at risk. New developments have been built on river buffer zones, protected parkland has been bought for private developments, and new housing plans have been made with no provision for green or public space. Now, thanks to the persistence of a small group of champions, and the support of international partners, Lilongwe City Council has been developing an action plan to integrate biodiversity into its planning decisions.Martha Kalemba, an environmental officer at Malawi's Department of Environmental Affairs, first became interested in biodiversity while studying at university. Inspired by stories of how other capital cities as diverse as Tokyo and Manila were restoring nature, her thesis investigated how lower income countries could integrate biodiversity into the planning process and she used Lilongwe as her case study. Lilongwe: Growing fast Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and Lilongwe is one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. Ever since the first Urban Master Plan (1968), Lilongwe City Council has earmarked space for afforestation and conservation, but as the population has expanded, new settlements have started to encroach into protected areas, forests have been depleted as people have sought fuel for cooking and heating, and freshwater sources have been polluted. A turning point Kalemba recalls that the issue of biodiversity hit the national agenda for two reasons: The government had recently begun to revise its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which underscored the economic as well as social benefits of biodiversity to Malawians via food, shelter, medicine and income. As part of this process the government had started to map the biodiversity profile of the capital city, Lilongwe, andLilongwe became a pilot for an international programme designed to improve ecosystem management. The programme, known as 'Local Action for Biodiversity', was run by international cities network ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and involved 21 local governments.Taking action With ICLEI's support, the city council decided to develop an in-depth biodiversity report for Lilongwe that would assess the status of its ecosystems, including wetlands, parks and planted forests, as well as the institutional arrangements in government for protecting the city's natural assets. As a signal of its commitment to the process, the government seconded two national staff members to Lilongwe City Council to share their experiences of developing the national strategy.The first step was to put together a task force of different departments to explore the role of biodiversity in different aspects of urban life. The task force included departmental staff from fisheries, wildlife and parks, national herbarium, forestry, and local officials from urban planning, information, finance, trade, and from recreation, as well as local NGOs. Monipher Musasa, also based with the Department of Environmental Affairs, recalls that few local government officials had heard of the term biodiversity or considered it as an issue for their programmes of work. By exploring the different services that ecosystems provided the city, local officials began to see the economic as well as environmental benefits of biodiversity. For the first time officials began to see the relevance of biodiversity to their programmes of work and activity — Monipher MusasaStaff working with the water and electricity boards described how their budgets were going towards the clearance of invasive species, while representatives at the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism shared their experiences of how the city's precious parks and nature reserves were under threat from development. The city council published its biodiversity report in 2013. It provides a comprehensive overview of the role and value that biodiversity plays in the city, and as a result the task force has gone on to develop an action plan for the city.Soon to be completed, the plan is a practical roadmap for integrating biodiversity issues into all planning processes. This will restore the city's precious natural reserves as a means of delivering on broader developmental aims. Seeds of change For Kalemba, the big step forward is the fact that city-level officials are taking ownership of parts of the action plan and have started to collaborate with other government departments. The participatory process of developing the action plan created awareness in city officials not working directly in biodiversity management – Martha Kalemba This is a marked change from two years ago when the term 'biodiversity' was still unfamiliar to many of them. For Tiyamike Malija, a desk officer at the city council, the process has already made an impact: "All along people have been applying to have these [protected] plots for construction, but recently a decision has been made to turn these areas into parks." She describes how the city council has also decided to scale up the afforestation programme that takes place every rainy season.  Looking ahead With ICLEI's support, the task team has learned some important lessons along the way. For example, representatives from key sectors, such as health and education, were not present at the first meeting and as a result it has proved difficult to engage them.The team has also learnt that rather than host meetings at the city council buildings, which has allowed officials to drop in and out, in future they would hope to host the meetings at other departments to ensure that members participate in the entire meeting. Putting the action plan into motion will require funds and commitment from across the government, admits Musasa, and so the task ahead is still daunting given the number of other challenges that the country is facing.However, the experience so far has begun to convince the city council that biodiversity is not merely a rural and remote issue but one that is central to the urban context. Resources

Since 1993, Tunisia has set up a national program for solid waste management in order to implement an integrated waste management strategy. Since its creation, the National Agency of Waste Management (ANGeD) started with rehabilitating the unauthorized dumps, establishing controlled dumps, and addressing emitted gas and leachate. 
After the Revolution, waste management has been worryingly deteriorating in urban and rural areas, as reflected in the spread of black points due to the disruption in major waste collection operations, the sector’s infrastructure, and the recycling chain. Nowadays, Tunisia produces more than 2.8 million tons of solid waste (9.4 percent of plastic waste), 95 percent of which is buried (according to ANGeD). Currently, the 8 operating landfills are coming to the end of their life and require alternative solutions that highlight waste recovery. The ANGeD currently manages a public system entitled “Eco-lef” which stands for the recovery and the diversion of used packages, in accordance with the provisions of decree no. 97-1102 dated 2 June 1997 laying down the conditions of recovery and management of packaging bags and used packages as modified by decree no. 2001-843 dated 10 April 2001. 
On a practical level, the system encourages the private sector to collect packaging waste through establishing micro- enterprises specialized in collecting and selling the collected products to ANGeD. Most of the quantities are collected from households or landfills by rag pickers, known as “Barbecha”. The agency ensures thereafter an equal distribution of these quantities to approved recyclers licensed by the system at a subsidized price. The selling conditions and prices are stipulated in an agreement related to collection and recycling, between both parties, namely ANGeD and the concerned company. Depending on the polymer type (i.e. plastic), 70 to 90 percent of the collected plastic waste is recovered. In the activity of recycling plastic materials, PET (transparent and flexible bottles) is generally collected, washed, and crushed on the spot and exported mainly to Turkey and some other countries such as Vietnam. As for PEHD (opaque caps and bottles), it is collected, washed, crushed, and transformed into raw materials in Tunisia.   WHAT DOES ECO-LEF MEAN ? 
“ECO” stands for ecology, and “Lef” for packaging. It is a public system pertaining to the recovery of used packages, which came into being in 1998 following the application of the provisions of decree no. 97-1102 dated 2 June 1997. 
WHY WAS THE ECO-LEF SYSTEM CREATED?
 The ECO-Lef was created in order to: 
* Reduce the landfilling of packaging waste 
* Limit the negative impact resulting from leaving packaging waste in nature 
* Promote recycling and packaging waste recovery Notwithstanding the big principles laid down in the law, there is currently no clear strategy in terms of sector development and no objectives regarding the results or the recovery rate to be achieved. 
Created in 2001, Eco-lef is the first system for the management of packages in the MENA region and among the firsts in Africa. The system was built on a solid legal and an institutional basis. Today, and after twenty-three years of its activation, there is no doubt that it has contributed to the creation of a new first-order economic, social, and environmental sector. Nevertheless and despite all achievements and efforts, the performance and the governance of the current system is still very limited. In fact, very small quantities are collected compared to the massive quantity of plastic that continue to invade our environment at a stunning speed. 
The Eco-lef system faces many challenges that are manifested not only by the decrease of collected quantities, but also by the decrease in the number of active recyclers and Eco-lef members. Today, there are only 70 institutions that are really active. The same applies to the number of Eco-lef collection points, which dropped from 63 points in 2010 to only 45 in 2018. 
Obviously, the collapse did not spare the active collectors and Eco-lef members. In fact, only 180 remain according to 2018 calculations, whereas 230 were active in 2010. 
Currently, the Eco-lef system is funded by voluntary contributions of some producers and by the support of the decontamination fund (FODEP) through a tax of 5 percent on turnover charged to importers and producers (funding based on the collected quantities and activities of each year). It is also worth noting that contracted producers of packages, in other words those with contracts with the agency, are not required to pay a specific amount since it is regarded as a voluntary contribution, especially in the absence of means of control. In addition, the payment is not flexible enough according to the needs of collectors and recyclers and the price of materials. 
The organizational difficulties are mainly caused by the absence of selective sorting where the waste is produced. Even worse, the 8,000 informal collectors or “Barbecha” are not officially involved in the system, according to the ANGeD report, despite the key role they play by collecting 80 percent of recyclable waste. 
In the same context, we notice that the consumer is not involved and therefore does not bear any responsibility. 
  Reduction in the quantity of packages collected within Eco-lef system
Furthermore, the collection activity within the Eco-lef framework is related only to valuable materials (positive price on the market) such as beverage bottles type PET, PEHD, etc. However, the other types of packages are still not collected because of the absence of an appropriate infrastructure. Moreover, no incentive for innovation or for developing the recycling industry has been made in Tunisia. A large number of Eco-lef points have experienced equipment degradation, while other centers were taken over by the concerned municipalities without suggesting any alternatives. 
In light of the current situation in Tunisia, we do not sense the absence of an overview of what is collected and of precise and reliable data of the packages placed on the Tunisian market. The private sector is also active outside Eco-lef. It is prospecting new collection circuits and seeking to develop the plastic recycling and recovery. These activities are legal but represent a competition for the system. Unfortunately, there are no exact figures about collected plastic quantities by the private sector. 
The Eco-lef sector needs to be refreshed and optimized to keep up with the new systems of extended producer responsibility (EPR) applied in developed countries. Under the EPR, manufacturers and distributors of trademarks, and importers who put waste-generating products on the market, should take charge of the organization and the funding of their packaging waste through an ecological system. Likewise, the EPR represents a chance for the market of collection and recycling in Tunisia as well as for the waste prevention at source through the improvement of the packaging design to make more recyclable products. The system will support municipal efforts in terms of waste management and will considerably reduce the costs of collection and treatment. 
On a global scale, it has become very frequent that cities make strict decisions regarding single-use plastic. In Tunisia, the decentralization framework should start a real battle conducted by municipalities against plastic. In fact, the local authority can launch participative initiatives to reduce, sort, and recover plastic waste. It can even start to ban a few types of plastic by planning suitable programs and aim for longterm change. 
This is a chapter from the Plastic Atlas 2020. 

 
Solid waste management has emerged as a big challenge for the Mediterranean country of Tunisia. The country, having an estimated population of around 11 million people, produces more than 2.5 million tons of garbage each year. Tunisia is experiencing an average increase in waste volume by 3% with per capita waste generation in urban areas being 0.8 kg per day. Biodegradable organic fraction constitutes around 68% of the MSW stream.
MSW collection is covered at 80% in urban areas and 10% in rural areas. The country has 10 controlled landfills with a capacity of 1,788,000 tons per year and four other semi-controlled landfills in the Valley Medjerda with a capacity of 62,000 tons per year. Five other discharges with a nominal capacity of 0.466 million tons per year are being built and finally five other controlled discharges are planned with an average capacity of 0.433 million tons per year. Many municipal landfills do not meet sanitary standards and waste is often dumped into non-sanitary areas. Interestingly, only five percent of MSW is composted and merely 4% recycled. The expenditure for waste collection and transport constitutes 75-100% of the total solid waste management budget.
Borj Chakir Landfill
Eight kilometers south of Tunis is Borj Chakir, a town that has become infamous for a landfill that has damaging effects on the surrounding environment and quality of life of locals. The Borj Chakir landfill created in 1999 is the largest dumping ground and only regulated landfill in Tunis (which includes the governorates of Tunis, Manouba, Ariana and Ben Arous). The site occupies 120 hectares of what was once agricultural land planted with olive trees and grains. According to the facility specifications published in 1997 the landfill at Borj Chakir is intended for solid waste but current activities shows it operation outside of norms. Over the years the residents of El Attar/Borj Chakir,Jiyara and Sidi Hassine have suffered from compromised health and sanitation as a consequence of the waste collection site that has contaminated air, water, soil and as a result of their exposure to toxic odors of leachate.
Recycling Situation
The country possesses comprehensive environmental laws to encourage the sustainable management and recycling of municipal and industrial waste but there is doubt if the necessary measures for a good application have been provided. The Tunisian Government is often criticized for leaving the responsibility of waste management to the National Waste Management Agency (ANGED).
Borj Chakir landfill is a major cause of environmental and public health concerns.
Every year Tunisians use one billion plastic bags generating 10,000 tons of waste that have wreaked havoc on the environment. Almost 400 Private Companies are authorized by the Ministry of Environment to collect, transport and recycle plastics. Five private collectors and recyclers of used tires were also authorized while paper and cardboard recycling is still in its infancy. There is also a small informal sector for recycling food packaging.
Future Outlook
After the Arab Spring, Tunisia faced additional challenges maintaining existing waste management practices due to repeated strikes and dysfunctioning of municipal and rural council which destabilized cleaning service. There is a general view among the populace that the way waste is managed should be changed towards an integrated management style which entails collection to treatment because of the relationship between environmental impact and effects on human health are apparent. The market for environmental protection, pollution control equipment and technology has significant potential as anticipated tenders for landfills, coastal pollution project and waste water treatment all offer good opportunity for procurement.   Recommeded Reading   

Tagged Borj Chakir, garbage, Landfills, Recycling, Solid Waste Management, Tunisia, waste. Bookmark the  permalink. 


Africa

Tunisia

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Agence Nationale de Gestion des Déchets

Informal Economy

<p>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.</p>