Market Intelligence Report
January 2024 Newsletter
A debrief highlighting the most important, impactful and interesting topics affecting the sector.
Market Intelligence Report
Investigating PAYT as a Means to Reduce Waste & Stimulate Behaviour Change: Pt 1 of 3
As waste becomes an increasingly critical problem for the world, governments, environmentalists and waste management experts are looking for the most effective way to encourage people to reduce waste in their everyday lives. One of the most popular – and successful – ways to do this is by introducing a Pay As You Throw (PAYT) scheme. At its most basic, this is where individual households pay for their waste containers – whether these are bags, boxes or wheelie bins.
These containers are individually marked with a unique tag, which is registered to the owner, and defines the type of waste designated for each. Collection vehicles have readers that can read the tags – these are usually RFID or NFC readers. They also have cameras and onboard weighing, so that each waste container is automatically registered as it is collected or emptied. This creates a charge for the household, based on the type and weight of the waste.
News we thought was of interest
New York City Publishes Waste Management Companies Zone Awards
“New York’s Department of Sanitation has awarded long-awaited contracts for a zone system that will dramatically overhaul the city’s commercial waste industry. Customer transitions for the first zone will begin in September.
The 60 awarded contracts will encompass service for an estimated 200,000 businesses across 20 nonexclusive zones, plus five citywide agreements for containerized compactor service. Customers will have the option to choose among haulers in their select zones, and the city will not pay for these contracts.”
British Chambers of Commerce Pushes Government for Zero Waste Targets in New Green Innovation Challenge
“The BCC is calling for changes like more resources for the Climate Change Committee (CCC) plus a new public body to hold the Government to account for delivering its low-carbon policies.
These calls to action are included in a new ‘Green Innovation Challenge’ report – the first of five policy documents published by BCC’s new Business Council as part of its ‘Future of Economy’ project.
The report draws upon expertise from businesses of all sizes, academia and leading think-tanks.
While acknowledging strides made in reducing carbon emissions in electricity supply in the UK, the report cautions that efforts must intensify across all sectors of the economy, spanning transportation, heating, waste management and aviation.”
Forthcoming UN Report Highlights Materials Extraction Rise & Action to Mitigate Negative Climate Impacts
“The stripping of Earth’s natural materials is already responsible for 60% of global heating impacts, including land use change, 40% of air pollution impact, and more than 90% of global water stress and land-related biodiversity loss, says the report, due to be released in February.
Janez Potočnik, a former European commissioner and a co-chair of the UN panel that produced the analysis, said a gouging of raw materials on the scale predicted would almost certainly trigger more frequent and more severe storms, droughts and other climate disasters.”
Zero Waste Organisations Focus on EPA’s $4.6bn GHG Reduction Grants to Focus States on Zero Waste Strategies
At a webinar Wednesday 24th Jan, speakers from zero waste organizations and municipalities said there are opportunities on the horizon related to the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program meant to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Zero Waste USA, and the National Recycling Coalition hosted the event.
Webinar speakers said it’s critical to get involved with the relevant entities drafting such plans in order to advocate for zero waste strategies and programs. That’s because only the projects and policies explicitly mentioned in PCAPs will be eligible for the EPA’s next phase of CPRG funding — a total of $4.6 billion in grants to help implement PCAP strategies. Grant applications are due April 1.
The Future of AI to Shape the Waste & Recycling Industry Part 1 (Waste360)
“AI will give unprecedented visibility into the collection and sorting processes for MRFs and reclaimers. This visibility will help MRFs and reclaimers clean up recycling streams, automate collection and sorting processes, increase recovery, and track/audit recovery rates. This visibility will also help reclaimers trace and verify contamination levels in their feedstock, keeping their suppliers accountable. This will ensure a high yield of quality materials to be made back into recycled materials, like rPET,” says JD Ambati, founder and CEO at EverestLabs.”
RECOUP Reports with Data Analysis on Plastics Wastes Exports to Non-OECD Countries
“Tom McBeth, Policy & Infrastructure Manager at RECOUP, commented on the trend: “Our reliance on exporting plastic waste for recycling, particularly to non-OECD countries, underlines the need to develop our own domestic recycling markets.” Adding that the UK has a clear need to enhance its domestic recycling infrastructure and reform policies to reduce dependency on exports.
RECOUP’s examination of the export data points towards a pattern of increasing reliance on non-OECD countries for processing the UK’s plastic waste. This trend is observed against a backdrop of global market dynamics, including the growing demand for recycled plastic and the production of virgin plastic. The organisation suggests that at the moment without these export avenues, the material would likely be directed towards landfill or incineration.”
Gartner Analysts Report on SAP’s Sustainability Portfolio of Products
“SAP’s comprehensive portfolio is designed to help customers find the solutions they need to run their business processes and enterprise more efficiently, with offerings such as SAP Business Network, business process transformation solutions, SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), and the SAP Customer Experience portfolio. Our solutions, increasingly powered with AI capabilities, can help customers not only in their own operations, but across their entire value chain – from calculating product-level carbon footprints, to ensuring diversity and inclusion, to protecting human rights. In addition, SAP’s broad ecosystem of partners can support customers with industry- and technology-specific consulting and implementation, advancing SAP’s “sustainable by design” approach.”
Scotland Publishes Second Stage Consultation on Route Map Focusing on Transition to Circular Economy
“In 2022, the Scottish government set out a range of proposals to reduce waste and improve resource use through its ‘Route Map’ consultation. In 2023, it published an analysis of the responses to the consultation and now it has published a second consultation on the draft route map to reflect the consultation responses.
The first strategic aim of the map is to ‘reduce and reuse’. Under this aim, the Scottish government has said it will develop and publish a “product stewardship plan” to identify and tackle the environmental impact of “priority products” by 2025/26.
According to the Scottish government, product stewardship is an approach that means whoever designs, produces, sells or uses a product takes responsibility for minimising its environmental impact throughout all stages of that product’s life cycle.”
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