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Recycling

Building A New Path Forward

  As with many non-profits across the globe, we started 2023 with grand expectations and big plans for how we could transform social and environmental systems in the world. We know well that 2020 could instead be a road with seemingly unsurmountable challenges. Our 2020 goal: Expanding recycling thinking all across Buenos Aires The Rethinking Recycling program located in Buenos Aires' Barrio 31, locally known as "ATR - A todo Reciclaje, was closed in the year with a successful method for sustainable recycling programs for informal settlements. In just one year, we took the new recycling program to the doorsteps...
Recycling

The Reality of Fixing Waste and Recycling

  What a recent trip to Bali is triggering our innovative scaling strategies What specifically does Delterra do to repair broken recycling and waste management systems? Take a trip to a neighborhood that is urban located in Bali, Indonesia, where Delterra has been working for the last three years to develop solutions to the issue of waste. Delterra's leadership team, Indonesia team, and partners recently came together to discuss how best to expand the pilots across Bali and throughout Indonesia and other countries within the region. The Bali you won't see on social media. Bali is famous worldwide for its...
Recycling

Digital Tools Help Communities Face Their Growing Waste Crisis

  The volume of human waste is increasing and is predicted to rise by 70 percent until 2050. It is urgent to lessen the pressure on the environment and communities worldwide, especially those who are the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. For starters, waste collection must be more efficient, and the recovery of the value derived from the waste stream must be increased. How can digital tools help? As Delterra's project manager in digital innovations, I've observed firsthand what can be achieved when tools are developed and implemented extensively and inclusively. I've also noticed some obstacles holding us from achieving our goals....
Recycling

More Circular Economy Our Learnings

  The amount of garbage produced globally continues to increase at an alarming rate. We've all seen the horrifying images of coastlines covered with garbage and turtles consuming plastic bags. We need every bit of help we can get to manage our waste and reduce it. That's why analog waste collection systems increasingly rely on digital tools to accelerate solutions. A few months ago, in a post, I reviewed the most promising options available and asked you through an online poll to determine which one you believe has the most significant potential to impact waste management with digital tools. Our audience members said...
Recycling

How to Craft Your Behavior Change Framework

  What is required to change how households and companies view separate waste fundamentally? What principles of behavioral planning apply to the new collection services for recyclables or organic materials? The use of behavioral design is widely used in businesses to enhance the experience of customers. Targeted interventions have proved efficient and straightforward, resulting in remarkable outcomes. What if I had to oversee the transformation of behavior from scratch as part of creating public services on a municipal level? In this post, I'll discuss my experiences of implementing change in behavior in Delterra's Rethinking Recycling program in an average-sized Argentinian city. Here,...
Recycling

Intergovernmental Negotiating Committees to negotiate

  Plastic recycling has gained considerable importance on the international agenda in the past few years. As compared to the relatively low presence and focus on international gatherings on these issues just a few years ago, it's fantastic to see that more than 2,000 delegates, including officials from more than 150 UN nations who attended INC-1, which took place in Punta del Este in Uruguay and lasted for an entire week. In March 2022 in 2022, in March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly agreed to start negotiations to create an international legally binding agreement managing plastic throughout the entire...
Recycling

Putting INC on paper with the outcomes of INC to Paper

  The world's community of nations met in Paris this week, and more than 1,700 participants from 170 countries gathered to discuss a UN global treaty that will fight the effects of plastic pollution. This is a historic chance to end the problem of plastics and create the future world we envision to live in tomorrow. As Delterra is a UNEP-accredited environmental non-profit, Delterra was delighted to participate in the discussions at the UNESCO location and on various other occasions throughout the day. In Paris, I was ecstatic to be along with Delterra team members Shannon Bouton, the President, and CEO;...
Waste Reduction

Three lessons that have been forgotten regarding the circular economy

  I remember vividly the first time the concept of circular economies was brought to my awareness. The professor Conny Bakker was seated in front of the tiniest lecture hall in the department of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. "Waste is design gone wrong," Bakker told us. It was the department's (probably that of the University's) first class on circular design for products - which was offered as a one-time option to a small group of undergraduate students. The circular economy appeared to be precisely the concept I had been wishing for. It gave the...
Waste Reduction

That Transform Asia’s Waste Management and Recycling Industry

For a lot of us, 2020 was an event that was delayed because the world's attention was changed to the crucial task of fighting the COVID-19 epidemic. However, other pressing global issues did not rest, and we slipped into the most pressing issues, like the impact of plastics on climate change and pollution. During this period, the recycling and management of the waste value chains within South and Southeast Asia ground to a stop, and the use of virgin and single-use plastics skyrocketed. Research has shown that during the pandemic's peak, more than 80 percent of the recycling value chain...
Waste Reduction

Innovative Approaches to De-risking Financing in Asia’s Plastic Circular Economy

As much as US$995 billion in funds need to be sourced between 2022 and 2040 to ensure that circular supply chains can meet world demands for plastics. The massive need for financing has been a subject of discussion in the ongoing negotiations in the legally binding document to curb pollution caused by plastic. We know that investments in interventions across the entire value chain of plastics are essential to bring about systemic transformation. But the uncertainty and perceived risk when investing in circular economy innovation, especially in emerging markets - have been a reason for many investors to stay off...