STOPWASTE Project Tackles Plastic Packaging Challenges in EU

Which waste is the cheapest to manage? Those that are not produced. If you throw your used plastic bag into a plastic waste container, you are doing the right thing. But the best thing to do is not to use the plastic bag at all - it does not become a waste product that costs more to manage. On average, one person in the European Union produces almost 35 kg of plastic packaging waste per year. Of this, only 13 kg is recycled. Packaging accounts for around 60% of the plastic industry's end-use market, but less than 40% of plastic packaging is still recycled in the EU. "To increase the recycling rate of packaging waste, waste from different plastics should be collected separately according to their composition, and waste sorting lines and technological processes in treatment plants should be improved to separate plastics from different polymers more effectively," says Artūras Torkelis, a doctoral student at Kaunas University of Technology. He presented his research to the STOPWASTE project partners, which analyzed the composition and flows of plastics and plastic waste, as well as the factors influencing the circularity of recycling of packaging waste, based on the practices of municipalities in the three Baltic States. The partners' meeting of the INTERREG EUROPE-funded interregional project STOPWASTE, held in Bucharest, Romania, focused on the issue of packaging and packaging waste. The management of plastic packaging waste and plastic recycling is a common challenge faced by all the countries involved in the project: Lithuania, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Romania. At the meeting, their representatives discussed the practices already implemented and planned to reduce and recycle plastic waste and to increase public participation in the circular economy processes. Each participating country has its own experience in both waste management and waste prevention, which is the first and most important step in reducing the amount of waste generated. By sharing these experiences at partner meetings, new waste management policies are developed, adapting the best ideas to the needs of each country. Practical experience of the real situation and discussion with waste managers are particularly important and interesting. In Romania, the project visited two waste management companies, which, as elsewhere, not only have to manage the waste they collect but also have to deal with legal and environmental challenges. One of the biggest problems is public confidence in the waste management system, which cannot function successfully without faith and trust, heavily influenced by the position of local authorities. The cost of waste management is also an issue for everyone. The fee paid by Bucharest residents also depends on where in the city they live. The Romanian capital is divided into six sectors and, for example, in the second sector near the center, the charge is around €5 per month per person. Interestingly, in the very tidy center of Bucharest, there are no waste containers in the streets or squares - they are located in courtyards and, where there are no container sites, waste is collected by a roundabout method.