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Forum on Product Stewardship and Informal Recycling (PSIR)

Berlin

14-15 November 2012

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1. Forum Concept

In July 2012 a group of practitioners working in the field waste management and recycling in developing countries, came up with the concept of holding a forum to explore the potential for partnership between major multinational brand owning companies and informal sector recyclers. The concept seemed to have some merit, as it recognised an inherent synergy between the two key stakeholders who seemed to be most influential in driving forward recycling:

1. Informal sector recyclers whose work drives forward recycling practice in low and middle-income countries;

2. Consumer product companies who are working to improve product stewardship in response to corporate and public policy demands.

The idea was to create a platform for discussion and debate, and see whether there was indeed any scope and merit for business-to-business partnership between the world’s largest consumer product companies, and groups of recycling entrepreneurs. The concept was drafted-up by German technical cooperation (GIZ), into a submission for possible funding, which was in turn granted by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Forum is implemented within the framework of the GIZ sector project “Concepts for Sustainable Waste Management”.

2. Goal of the Forum The goal of the Product Stewardship and Informal Recycling (PS-IR) Forum was to exchange and develop practical, workable ideas for sustainable, inclusive product stewardship in middle-income countries. The Forum was convened as a ‘Closed-Shop’ meeting, within which the Chatham House Rule would be applied. The rule guarantees anonymity of contributions from participants, thus helping to ensure openness during the event.

3. The Organisers GIZ put in place sub-contracts with two organisations to assist in developing and delivering the event, WASTE The Netherlands www.waste.nl (for content issues) and RWA Group www.rwagroup.net (for logistic issues). All three of these organisations are active in the Collaborative Working Group on Solid Waste Management in Low-and-Middle Income Countries (www.cwgnet.net), an informal ‘community of practitioners’ working on the frontline of waste management and recycling globally.

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It was decided to hold the Forum in Berlin, Germany, and to convene a highly interactive meeting over one and a half days.

4. Participants A cross-section of participants from consumer product companies, social entrepreneurs, consultants and practitioners working on recycling in developing countries attended the event. A full list of participants is included in Annex 1. Participants came from 20 countries, from the Americas, North Africa, Asia and Europe. The Forum was chaired by Professor David C Wilson MBE of Imperial College London, and facilitated by Mr Jeroen Ijgosse a consultant specialising in strategy, facilitation and waste sector development.

5. Summary of Outcomes The Agenda for the Forum is included in Annex 2. Day 1 – Morning Session The Forum began with welcome words from the host Sandra Spies from GIZ, followed by personal introductions from all participants.

The facilitator introduced the concept of the Forum and outlined the Agenda. The Forum Chair made a presentation setting the scene for the Forum, and posing some key questions for the working sessions. The morning session focused on and around a specific country case, Macedonia. The case was used as a means of introducing some specificity to discussions. Following presentation of the case, four breakout groups were organised to brainstorm some hot topics that emerged from the case, and from participants’ own experience.

The session ended with presentations of the hot topics from each of the breakout groups. Day 1 – Afternoon Session The afternoon session commenced with video-clips hearing the voices and opinions of informal sector recyclers in India and Latin America. The overwhelming impression was

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of professional recyclers, who know their job and who are self-evidently key stakeholders in the waste and resource management system. Their direct contribution to the Forum through the videos was quite profound. Following a question and answer session on the video clips, breakout discussions were held to discuss ‘ingredients to partnerships’. Groups were divided into four thematic areas: logistics stewardship, financial stewardship, institutional stewardship and value chain stewardship. Day 1 closed with a wrap up session. Day 2 – Morning Session Day 2 started with a recapitulation of Day 1 proceedings, and presentations from the breakout groups. Presentations from the four breakout groups were followed by discussions and question-answer sessions.

From this point onwards, participants were guided through an interactive process of developing and honing ideas on the design of inclusive product stewardship in middle-income countries. The outcomes of group discussion were translated into ideas for ‘Principles’ and ‘Projects’ focusing on delivering PS-IR partnerships. Pictures of the group outcomes are included in Annex 3.

The compatibility of the different group outcomes was remarkable. What had been achieved represented a first cut of a potential ‘tri-partner’ collaborative programme on PS-IR in middle-income countries. A version of this is being worked up in parallel to the preparation of this report. Whilst there were inevitable differences in perspective, it was agreed that if participants could agree a set of principles, then a major step would have been taken towards achieving the Forum goals. An initial consultation draft of 10 principles has been prepared and is circulated in parallel to this Forum Report. After a summary and wrap-up from the Chair, and closing words from Sandra Spies; the Forum closed with a sense of achievement, learning, positivity and partnership possibility.

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Annex 1: List of Participants Nr. Name Stakeholder group Affiliation

1 Adrian Hawkes European Producer Responsibility Organisation Valpak

2 Andreas Albert Sustainability director, Chilean Brewing company CCU

3 Andy Whiteman Solid Waste Consultant RWA

4 Anne Scheinberg Programme Co-ordinator WASTE

5 Anselm Rosario Operator of PPP between informal recyclers and IT industry

Private entrepreneur, Bangalore, India

6 Arjant Toska Business Consultant, Macedonia MDC TI Net

7 Barbara Olz GIZ Project Team

8 Caroline Rennie Sustainability, strategy, coaching, team alignment Reos Group

9 Cosmin Briciu Solid Waste Consultant RWA

10 David Wilson Independent Consultant and Scientific co-ordinator, ISWA Globalisation & Waste Task Force

University Professor (Imperial College, London), Global waste expert, RWA

11 Derek Stephenson Product Stewardship consultant Steward Edge

12 Ellen Gunsilius GIZ Project Team

13 Erika Mink Brand-owner representative Tetrapak

14 Hannah Hislop Brand-owner representative Unilever

15 Jacqueline Barendse Development Banker WASTE

16 Jeff Cooper Former ISWA president, ex-regulator ISWA

17 Jeroen IJgosse Moderator-Facilitator WASTE

18 Joachim Stretz GIZ SWM Project Team Leader Egypt GIZ

19 Jonathan Perry Advisor on product take-back for an electronic equipment brand owner

Dell

20 Jurgen Fuchs EPR/ European Producer Responsibility Organisation

Landbell

21 Laila Iskandar Consultant and Global Social Entrepreneur, Cairo

Consultancy - CID; NGO working with Cairo waste pickers

22 Lakshmi Narayan KKPKP, SWATCH, Pune, India Waste pickers union

23 Laura Cornejo Executive Director WEEE Entrepreneur Association - Costa Rica

ASEGIRE

24 Lizette Cardenas Executive director, Solid Waste Association of the Philippines

SWAPP/ Quezon City

25 Marina Franke Brand owner representative Proctor & Gamble DE

26 Niki Doychinov Product Stewardship consultant RWA

27 Pablo Heredia SWM/economic expert GIZ Mexico

28 Reka Soos Environmental economist RWA

29 Sandra Spies Project Director GIZ

30 Sofia Garcia-Cortes Project Team GIZ

31 Thomas Schneider Project Team GIZ

32 Victoria Rudin Vega Facilitated Costa Rica E-Waste System Director, ACEPESA

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Annex 2: Forum Agenda

Day 0, 13 November 17:00 Recommended arrival time to Berlin Golden Tulip Hotel

Registration and packet pick-up available

19:00 Welcome Cocktail

Day 1, 14 November 7:00 BREAKFAST

08.00-08.30

Registration available for those just arriving

08.30-10:30

Session 1: Points of departure

8:30 Welcome

8:35 GIZ, BMZ, and the Sector Project

8:55 Introductions of all attending

9:30 Ambitions and positions

10.00 Setting the stage: Keynote speech from David C. Wilson; “Product Stewardship - Building a real partnership between producers and informal sector recyclers”

10.30-11.00

COFFEE BREAK

Session 2: Introducing the case

11:00-11:20

Session 2a: The situation with waste management, informal recycling, packaging and E-waste laws product stewardship and EU accession in Macedonia. Presented by Niki Doychinov (EPC-KOS), Arijan Toska (MDC TI Net) and Jelena Trninic (Coca Cola Helenic)

11:20-11:50

Session 2b: Plenary session: "questioning the case": Everyone present questions the case to get a clearer understanding of what is happening in relation to EPR, Compliance, Product Stewardship, laws, focus on packaging, E-Waste, Paper

11.50-12.30

Session 2c: Group work: Hot topics emerging. Small groups do a sector/issue analysis in the case.

12.30-13.30

LUNCH

13:30-14:30

Session 3: Voices from the field “Presentation of the Compilation of the Field Consultations” Presentation plus plenary discussion on the ideas that come out of it.

14:30-15.00

Session 4: What are the ingredients to partnerships? What kinds of solutions are missing? Where do we look for them. Meta-issues and institutional. Plenary session

15.00-15.30

FRUIT AND JUICE BREAK

15.30-17.00

Session 5: Design of strategies Group work: Based on participants´ own experience and knowledge design strategies with a focus on the case.

17.00-17.30

Wrap-up session and closing of day: Each group has the opportunity to ask 1-2 questions that came up

20.00-22.30

Evening programme. Departure time and venue to be announced.

Day 2, 15 November 08.30-8.45 Recapitulation of Day 1:

Session 6: Designing inclusive PS for middle-income countries

8.45-9:45 Groups report out with their insights, results, conclusions, and also the case representatives do the same. Macedonian Case team gives feedback

Session 7: Harvesting ideas

9:45-10:45 Session 7a: Where do we go from here in two years time and in which country /group of countries? First round: Individual ideas from every participant

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10.45-11.15

COFFEE BREAK

11.15-11.50

Session 7 b: Taking the substantive ideas a step further. Second round: Buzz groups of three (neighbours) work on the substantive ideas.

11.50-12.15

Session 7c: Assessing the chosen ideas by the buzz groups. Third round: Plenary to assess semi-final ideas:

12.15-13.00

Session 8: Harvesting the process and interest to continue Participants speak to the group and to each other about their ideas, next steps, way forward

13.00-14.00

LUNCH

14:00-14:15

Closing words from David C. Wilson and Sandra Spies

Participants leave to airport

Annex 3: Pictorial Outcomes from Session 8

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