This week is Baker & McKenzie’s annual International Environmental Conference in Chicago, Illinois on June 19-21, 2019. Jonathan Cocker is moderating the panel, “Understanding the Scope of the Circular Economy Dilemma – The Global Plastics Challenge”. The panelists include Tim Carey (PepsiCo), Mario Facio (B&M – Mexico City), Renata Amaral (B&M – Sao Paulo), Pascal Mallien (B&M – Antwerp), Doug Sanders (B&M – Chicago). The panel will discuss a high level overview of circular economy…
There is no question that dramatic changes are coming for the supply and reverse supply chain for plastics that will impact packaging, containers, and plastic products. From resins and polymer mixes to ocean plastic clean up and waste export bans and everything in between, it is difficult to not foresee a fundamental regime shift coming for the regulation of plastics globally. But just who decides on these new rules and how will disparate initiatives and…
2019 will likely go down as the year that (developing) Asian countries have finally had enough of western garbage. Indeed, their final victory in repelling imports of unrecyclable plastics and other wastes won’t come too soon for international brand owners whose reputations have increasingly been harmed with the scrutiny now being paid to the final destinations of their products and packaging. The Shift in Asian Waste Imports It started last year with the China National Sword,…
Jonathan Cocker’s latest blog entry entitled, “Can-Am Recycling of Batteries Made Easier Under New Cross-Border Regulation” has been republished on the Advanced Waste Solutions website. To read the article, click HERE.
The interprovincial and international movement of hazardous recyclable materials, such as used batteries, is already big business and will only grow in the coming years in North America. Internationally, no less than 99% of all (lawful) hazardous recyclables (and hazardous waste) exported from, or imported to, Canada are with the United States. The coming restrictions under amendments to the Basel Convention will also strengthen and foster demand for North American-based hazardous materials recycling as transfers to…
The transition to a circular economy, including the move to a form of full Extended Producer Responsibility, invariably requires adapting international models to local political, economic and environmental circumstances. In many developing countries, one of the most challenging questions is how to incorporate the existing and often well-entrenched informal waste recovery sector within regulatory models which make international product makers the responsible party for operating reverse supply chains for their end-of-life goods and related packaging.…
Jonathan Cocker is the published author of the Canada Chapter in the third edition of The Environment and Climate Change Law, which was released in late February, 2019. To read the publication in its entirety, and learn more about The Environment and Climate Change Law Review, click HERE.
South Africa is in the midst of a significant overhaul of its product stewardship and waste diversion operations. Each of the printed paper and packaging (PPP), electrical and electronic, and lighting industries have respectively prepared 5-year Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) plans. Producers in all of these industries have been engaged in this process and, overall, a clear consensus has emerged that EPR in South Africa is both environmentally and socially necessary. SA EPR: From Voluntary…
This might have been the perfect opportunity for Health Canada to finally put a regulatory stake in the ground and define the rules for the safe reuse of (non-sharps) medical devices, with or without refurbishment and/or other reprocessing. After all, Health Canada’s Action Plan on Medical Devices defined its mandate as “continuously improving safety, effectiveness and quality” of medical devices, all of which are directly relevant to the burgeoning market for used medical devices. Presumably…
The attention currently devoted to plastics waste in both the public and private sectors is breathtaking. A growing number of international brands have made recycled content commitments for their plastic packaging and related containers. The European Union’s Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy has begun implementing changes to the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and the UK Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has just released a well-developed plastics packaging taxation…