Category: Opinion

Different recycling types

21 critical decision points governments must address to optimise EPR regulations

The global spotlight on national waste legislation is intensifying, and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) stands at the forefront. EPR offers a compelling solution for financing sustainable waste management, embodying the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Simply put, EPR mandates that producers, importers, and brands take responsibility for the lifecycle of their products, either by directly managing waste […]

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EPR Focus: How to involve informal collectors

By Maria Accioly, Pedro Succar and Thierry Sanders   Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations are reshaping global waste management. While approximately 40 countries have implemented EPR, significantly increasing waste management budgets, a stark disparity exists. About 150 countries, many low-income, lack EPR and rely heavily on an estimated 20 million informal waste pickers.  KOLEKT has […]

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plastic bottles

EPR Focus: Mandatory vs. Voluntary Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

As of today, some 40 nations have placed the responsibility for the collection of packaging waste or the payment of the waste collection costs with the companies that sell the products and packaging. This regulation, called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), is probably the most effective step taken in decades to generate more funds for waste […]

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EPR Focus: Elevating Extended Producer Responsibility beyond collections

The global spotlight on national waste legislation is intensifying, and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) stands at the forefront. EPR offers a compelling solution for financing sustainable waste management, embodying the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Simply put, EPR mandates that producers, importers, and brands take responsibility for the lifecycle of their products, either by directly managing waste […]

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How Finance Fuels a Just Transition

This Saturday, 1 March, we mark World Waste Pickers Day—a moment to celebrate the unsung heroes of global recycling systems. Waste pickers, who collect and process 60% of the world’s recycled materials, are environmental stewards and economic innovators, yet their contributions remain undervalued. At BVRio, we champion their role as catalysts for a just transition, […]

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Brazil’s Environment Ministry to enforce solutions for product waste

In an article published last week by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, reporter Joana Cunha interviewed the Secretary for the Urban Environment, Adalberto Maluf, about the Ministry of the Environment’s initiative to strengthen the regulation of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model in Brazil. The initiative is seen as a crucial step towards […]

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Approaches to sustainability in Brazilian agriculture: Combining environmental conservation with economic growth

PlanaFlor, a unique and strategic plan for implementing the Forest Code, stands out as it complements Brazil’s recently launched National Programme for Converting Degraded Pastures (PNCPD). This alignment is not just crucial, it’s a game-changer, ensuring that the broad goals set by the PNCPD for pasture recovery are not just met, but exceeded. PlanaFlor’s detailed […]

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How the private sector can support the Amazon alliance to end deforestation

This week the Leaders of State of the eight countries that share the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) signed the Belém Declaration, a historic statement in order to face the challenge of protecting the integrality of the Amazon region, fighting poverty and inequalities, “with the purpose of gathering efforts to promote sustainable development that is harmonious, […]

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Pilot project completes with 350+ waste pickers benefitting

Waste won’t wait: How solutions which support informal waste pickers can start to clear the way now for a world without plastic pollution.

Globally there’s an estimated 20 million+ informal waste pickers. An army of recycling experts, picking their way through the rubbish discarded into the environment, as a result of a lack of organised collections, sorting and recycling. Discerning about where they place their effort, waste pickers choose the most valuable waste to collect, sort and redesignate. […]

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