Kickstart: Protecting the people who sort most of the world's recycled plastics

An estimated 20 million people worldwide are "waste pickers," collecting a staggering 60 percent of post-consumer plastics, according to one estimate.

The Circulate Initiative, a business-backed group targeting plastic pollution in emerging markets, says it's time for a framework on ethical working conditions for these global waste pickers.

The group, which counts Dow Inc. and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste among its partners, launched its Harmonized Responsible Sourcing Framework for Recycled Plastics on May 30 and called on global brands and others to "respect the rights of informal waste sector workers and waste pickers" in recycled plastic supply chains.

Circulate says the effort will start in Indonesia, India, Kenya and Vietnam, with funding from Coca-Cola Co., HP Inc., Circulate Capital and the Minderoo Foundation.

A waste picker group, Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, said in the statement that the framework could be adopted by the global plastics treaty.

"Waste pickers are at the frontline of global recycling efforts," said the group's Sonia Dias. "Importantly, this framework was developed with the contribution of waste pickers, and their voices and needs in mind."

Thanks to Plastics News' Steve Toloken for this item.

Waste collection problems aren't just an issue in remote, developing countries, Alex Schulze, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit environmental group 4ocean, said in a recent video interview with Fisk Johnson, chairman and CEO of consumer products company SC Johnson.

"We're doing cleanups in Bali [and] in Guatemala and a lot of people will see our footage and say that in these developing countries, I can expect that lack of waste management infrastructure and plastic ending up in the ocean, but we'll show a cleanup and then we'll pan [the camera] and you'll see its the city of Miami here in South Florida," Schulze said. "… We have the luxury of waste management infrastructure and garbage and recycling collection but unfortunately there's so much single-use plastics being consumed on a daily basis that it's ending up in the ocean."

Johnson, a longtime advocate of using recycled content and extended producer responsibility, said the presence of large and small plastics even in developed countries shows the need for regulations to reduce plastic waste.

Boca Raton, Fla.-based 4ocean recently received a 25-foot fiberglass boat from Carolina Skiff LLC — its first new boat — to help it with cleanup projects in shallow water. The boat maker said the boat's design provides plenty of space to store material recovered in waterways.

Australia may revamp its National Plastic Plan to help fight pollution in waterways and on land — a plan that just launched in 2021.

PN correspondent Kate Tilley writes that the new NPP proposed by a committee within the Australian Parliament would try to unite a "disjointed compilation of goals" in favor of one that would shift more responsibility onto the industry.

The proposal, part of the Drowning in Waste report, does not have any specific dates for legislative action.