Extrusion International USA 5-2022

26 Extrusion International 5/2022 INDUSTRY NEWS Circular Economy Packaging  TOMRA, the innovation leader for waste and resource management, offers practical solutions to deal with the ever-growing volume of packag- ing waste. To mark its 50th anniver- sary, TOMRA has published its next white paper which highlights Ex - tended Producer Responsibility (EPR). This policy principle has the power to accelerate society’s shift towards a more circular economy, where re- sources are reused repeatedly to maximize their value. EPR ensures that producers and manufacturers take responsibility for the full lifecycle of their packag- ing – from design to waste collection and recycling, and final disposal. As producers must provide dedicated funding for their own packagaing, this policy principle also can incentiv- ize sustainable packaging design and management based on the waste hierarchy to achieve greater envi- ronmental outcomes. TOMRA’s new white paper, EPR Unpacked – A Policy Framework for a Circular Economy, not only defines and examines EPR schemes for packaging waste, but it also serves as a detailed guide for policymakers who design or develop EPR schemes, offering amulti-faceted perspective and practical insights to help achieve greater performance. The white paper names and ex - plains the five design principles required for the successful imple- mentation of an EPR scheme. These are: circularity, which prioritizes the waste hierarchy, incentivizes eco- design, and utilizes reliable measure- ment protocols; performance, which includes a well-defined scope, clear roles and responsibilities, and com- prehensive targets that scale up over time; convenience and user-friendly systems that increase the amount of valuable resources that are collected and processed effectively; producer responsibility which establishes clear rules for the management of packag- ing waste; and finally, system integ - rity, which ensures transparency and compliance to support the achieve- ment of targets. In Asia, local initiatives have devel- oped into cross-industry networks – a response to the fact that 80% of the plastic in the world’s oceans entered them via Asian waterways. Today, EPR is not only being ap- plied in Europe but also in other re- gions. South Africa and Vietnam have recently implemented EPR for pack- aging, and several states within the United States are currently consider- ing such measures. In Europe, the robust targets de- fined in the 2019 Single Use Plastics Directive have resulted in almost all EU member states introducing legis- lation on deposit return systems for beverage containers, which will ap- ply by 2029. The implementation of EPR legisla- tion is a transformative measure to improve both the quality and quan- tity of the resources that get recycled, thereby supporting the acceleration to a circular economy. TOMRA Recycling www.tomra.com