ISO will introduce six standards by 2012, clearly dealing with terms such as recycling, bio-degradation and energy recovery with regards to packaging.
They will likely be based on the current European standards developed by CEN. This could be a big wake up call for many in the
Yet educating consumers on the right way to recover packaging materials will be the true key to finding success with these standards – after all, a product’s Life Cycle Analysis, including the packaging, is based on its manufacturing trail from natural resource extraction to disposal.
As an au pair in
Widespread education on proper waste disposal is on the rise. In the
The SPC is riding on this successful platform, developing too an on-pack label to increase the recycle reach and rate in the
With each of these standards coming into play, we will no doubt see an increase in recycling facilities capable of handling the many materials that, in the past, have been simply land-filled. Consumers are gaining knowledge and we all know what knowledge is – power.
Glass and plastic make up fifty percent of packaging by weight for the world’s largest multi-national beverage companies. To help brands help consumers increase recycling rates, they’ll be materials innovation in the label industry. Its leaders will do what they do best: create a solution for their clients. One
Danielle Jerschefske
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In its own way, a lack of standards and regulations can also catalyze innovation, at least in a social context.
When I was living in London, my household would regularly recycle a large part of our waste. Most local councils make this easy, with different colored bins or rubbish bags provided to the public to encourage the separation of waste that can be recycled.
In Buenos Aires, however, there is little in the way of organized recycling by the consumer. We return empty glass bottles to the supermarket, but there are no colored bins outside our apartments. Bags of rubbish are left under lamp posts in the street and collected by trucks during the night. This has led to the rise of cartoneros – unemployed people, generally from poor areas on the outskirts of the city, who spend their days sifting through the bags of rubbish to retrieve cardboard, paper, plastic and glass.
It is a common sight to see scores of these cartoneros delving through piles of waste and loading their spoils onto makeshift carts. There are an estimated 40,000 in Buenos Aires alone, earning around USD $3 dollars a day from selling the materials to recycling companies.
The rise of the cartonero tells the story of Argentina’s economic difficulties in the last 20 years. As such, they are a group that attracts support and sympathy, and the government has begun to recognize the valuable service that this army of recyclers provides. Legislation has been introduced to guarantee that the recycling companies pay a certain price per kilo of material; education and support programs have been founded to reduce the number of children involved. People are being encouraged to separate their waste before leaving it outside, to make the cartoneros’ job easier; stories of injuries sustained while sifting through rubbish – being cut by glass, for example – are common.
A company called Eloisa Cartonera has been set up that publishes Latin American literature in books whose covers are made from cardboard recovered by the cartoneros and individually painted.
As a heart-warming aside: just a few weeks ago, one 40-year-old cartonero, a father of three, stumbled across a bag containing over USD $7,000 while he covered his usual patch. He contacted the police and handed back every penny.
James Quirk, L&L, Buenos Aires