“Making producers responsible for the full life-cycle of their products and the waste they produce will help companies to consider what materials they use in and to package their products, and find new and innovative cost-effective ways to recycle them and lower costs for consumers.” – Preserving and Protecting our Environment for Future Generations. A Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan, Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, 2018 The change in government in Ontario in the summer of…
The CCME (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment)’s Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste, dated November 2018, outlines the commitment of all provincial and territorial ministers of the environment in Canada on plastics waste. The Strategy overtly builds upon various previous multi-lateral initiatives on plastic waste reduction, many of which Canada was only tangentially involved. What is truly new and groundbreaking is the first trilateral federal, provincial, and territorial legislative commitment to a circular economy.…
The recent announcement of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment sponsored by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment (the “Global Commitment”) may have gone unnoticed. After all, the Global Commitment joins the increasingly crowded field of multilateral plastic waste accords, such as the G7 Plastics Charter, the EU strategy for plastics in a circular economy, the Commonwealth Blue Charter, and the UN Community of Ocean Action. But the Global Commitment is, in fact, a watershed…
Resource recovery through the operation of reverse supply chains requires substantial funding, at least while producers work to internalize and minimize those costs over time. Under government-run waste diversion schemes, those costs are borne by the consumer through payment of much maligned “eco fees”. The model used for charging and passing along eco fees among supply chain parties can have significant impacts upon long term circular economy strategies. Two models have been adopted in the…
Much has been made of the dramatic impacts that China’s “National Sword” (preceded by the more modest “Green Fence”) has had on the international movements of recyclable materials. Specifically, China’s decision to curtail the types of recyclable plastics it would accept has had a trinity of detrimental effects upon many developed world recycling markets: there has been a significant surplus of recyclables growing at collection points without a clear market; much of the content is…
The Memorandum of Understanding on Circular Economy Between the European Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China, dated July 16th, 2018 (the “EU-China Agreement”) may be light on binding commitments, but is, nonetheless, a true watershed event on the path to a circular economy (CE) for a number of reasons: − it may well be the first international agreement (excluding intra-EU initiatives) on CE, and certainly the most…
This past week Jonathan Cocker presented Supply Chains to Waste Diversion: Global Progress Towards a Circular Economy and Emerging Topics during the International Environmental Conference in Chicago, Illinois on June 20th – 22nd, 2018. Jonathan discussed the new Circular Economy framework introduced under Ontario’s Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act in 2016 and how the rise of Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) will ensure compliance within the free market for resource recovery and waste diversion as…
Jonathan Cocker co-presented and spoke at the breakout session “Sustainability: What’s Driving the Agenda and How Can Your Business Evolve to Meet and Stay Ahead of Demand?” alongside Christine Constantine, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (Baker McKenzie), Jeremy Schwartz, Ex CEO (The Body Shop), Julia Dickenson, Senior Associate (Baker McKenzie), Emily Tilden-Smith, Associate (Baker McKenzie), and Francesca Richmond, Partner, Dispute Resolution (Baker McKenzie), during the Luxury Law Summit which took place at the Ham Yard…
Jonathan Cocker will be co-presenting the breakout session “Sustainability: What’s Driving the Agenda and How Can Your Business Evolve to Meet and Stay Ahead of Demand?” alongside Christine Constantine, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (Baker McKenzie), Jeremy Schwartz, Ex CEO (The Body Shop), Julia Dickenson, Senior Associate (Baker McKenzie), and Francesca Richmond, Partner, Dispute Resolution (Baker McKenzie), at the upcoming Luxury Law Summit taking place at the Ham Yard Hotel in London, England on May…