the extended producer responsibility: the tunisian experience · the experience of tunisia •in...
TRANSCRIPT
The extended producer responsibility:
the Tunisian experience
Ilyès Abdeljaoued
SWEEP-NET’s Fourth Regional Forum
Amman, 13-15 May 2014
Table of content
• The context
• The Tunisian experience
• Conclusions and recommendations
THE CONTEXT
THE TUNISIAN EXPERIENCE
The experience of Tunisia
• In Tunisia, since the enactment of the Solid Waste Management Act No. 96 - 41 and the enforcement of the relative regulations, Tunisia has implemented collection, treatment and recovery of some specific wastes.
• Tunisia can be classified as one of the most pro-active and progressive countries in terms of the way public institutions are with the informal recycling sector in the Midde East/North Africa (MENA) region.
• This section briefly describes the Tunisian experience in incorporating the informal sector in an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program.
Eco-Lef
• Until the enactment of Eco-Lef the Tunisian EPR system in 2001, postconsumer packaging waste was a significant problem in Tunisia. Discarded items such as plastic bottles (PET), cans, and cartons could be commonly seen littering the roads and public spaces.
• In order to address this problem, in 1997 the country’s National Agency for the Protection of the Environment (ANPE) created the Eco-Lef program, a national system for the recovery and recycling of post-consumer packaging.
• Eco-Lef is widely considered to be among the most successful recovery systems in the region.
Levy on plastic goods and plastic resins/granules
Financial support for plastic waste collection and recovery
Depollution Fund
FODEP
Financial support for hazardous waste collection and treatment
Financial support for municipal solid waste landfilling
Eco-Lef
Sources of financing
• That levy is due at the rate of 5% of – net added value by local manufacturers
– customs value for imports.
• Products and goods: – 39-01 to 39-14 positions of tariff duties: polymers
of ethylene products, propylene, styrene, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate,
• The recovery of the environmental tax is in the same conditions as tariffs.
The system
Households
Retailers
Other waste producers
Informal sorting to extract plastic wastes
ANGed collection
centers
Private collection
centers
Local recyclers
Exportation
Waste flows Municipal landfills and dumpsites
Financial support
Households
Retailers
Other waste producers
Informal sorting to extrat plastic wastes
ANGed collection
centers
Private collection
centers
Local recyclers
Exportation
Municipal landfills and dumpsites
Waste flows Cash flows
Depollution Fund FODEP
Social and environmental performance
• The Ecolef system has been successful in improving collection/ recycling of plastic packaging
• The system has allowed the development of 318 EcoLef collection centres, which have collected up to 15,300 tons of plastic packaging wastes in 2008.
• Depending on the type of polymer, 70-90 % of collected plastic waste is recycled thanks to 100 agreements signed with private recyclers.
• Eco-Lef has contributed to the creation of around 11,000 jobs and 1,900 collection micro-enterprises with the financial support of the National Employment Fund (“21-21 Fund”).
Technical performance
2008
Ecolef collection centers 318
ANGed collection centers 73
Private collection points 245
Total collected (tons) 15,371
PET 9,111
HDPE 640
Plastic bags 5,413
Sling bags 189
Tin plate 18
Amount collected per center 48.336
Financial performance
2008
Awareness costs (TND) 69,000
ANGed costs (TND) 6,750,127
Collection costs (TND) 6,702,357
Depreciation costs (TND) 724,816
Total cost (TND) 14,246,300
Awareness costs (TND/ton) 4
ANGed costs (TND/ton) 439
Collection costs (TND/ton) 436
Depreciation costs (TND/ton) 47
Total unit cost (TND/ton)
Total unit cost (EUR/ton)
927
511
Limitations and drawbacks
• Given the lack of interest from producers and packers to establish and run a packaging waste management system, the government has set up a management system based on the eco-tax.
• Stakeholders are not used in working together.
Limitations and drawbacks
• Waste producers – No direct incentives on waste producers (households,
business) to reduce their waste generation, to separate their wastes or to recycle
– Lack of CSR of the EPR system
• Municipalities – Municipalities are supported indirectly (as they pay only
20% of gate fee for landfilling) but this financial support is not linked to local actions in separation or sorting of municipal wastes
– Collection of plastic waste is sometimes at the expense of street cleanliness : containers are dumped into the street to retrieve the plastic fraction.
Limitations and drawbacks
• Informal sector – Except the purchase price, plastic waste collectors (coming mainly
from the informal sector) do not receive special assistance. – No sorting infrastructure available to collectors. – Small size of operators (no economy of scale) with no working capital – Child labor issues – Lack of social recognition – Major occupational health and safety / working conditions issues
• Recyclers – Except the subsidized selling price to recyclers, the system has not
developed specific policy or action to foster the recycling sector (such as incentives).
– Small size of operators (no economy of scale) – Competition with Asian plastic waste traders (especially for PET) – Lack of recycling industry with technical know-how
SWOT analysis
Strengths
• Job creation
• Revenue generation
• initiating a virtuous circle for the collection and recycling of plastics
• Deployment of collection centers consistent with the objectives
Weaknesses
• Lack of regulation
• Lack of technical standards
• Collection organization (zonning, poor transportation yield)
• Recyclers (too many, poor recycling yield, poor added value, no know-how)
SWOT analysis
Menaces
• International markets (Asia)
• Prices
• Decrease in Government aids and subsidies
Opportunities
• Collection of other recyclable wastes
• Production of goods made of recovered plastics
• Libya and Algeria
Eco-Zit and Eco-Filter
• Eco-Zit is the public recovery system designed for used lubricating oils. • This system, based on 8,000 collection points, has collected up to 15,000
tons of motor oil in 2007 (from 50,000 tons consumed annually in Tunisia and 25,000 tons recoverable).
• 10,000 tons per year are recycled by a local company located in Bizerta, SOTULUB.
• Eco-Filter is a public recovery system dedicated to used oil filters collection.
• This system records a structural deficit, given the sale price to recyclers set too low (TND 0.15 per filter whereas the average collection cost is around TND 0.5-0.8 per filter), and the lack of incentives for the development of the collection.
• Therefore, this system has been implemented in conjunction with Eco-Zit, to reduce fixed costs and get closer to the financial balance of the system.
Eco-batterie
• Eco-Batterie: used lead batteries are collected by private collectors on behalf of two licensed recyclers, ASSAD company that produces batteries and Foundry El Hanaya, to collect and recover the lead in used batteries (about 6000 tons/yr).
• A mandatory deposit system for any battery sold on the local market provides funding for the sector: for batteries weighing less than 30 kg, the levy is set at TND 15 per unit, for batteries weighing between 30 and 60 kg, the levy is TND 30 and accumulators used for various industrial purposes must pay a levy proportional to the weight at the rate of 450 millimes per kg.
• The recycling rate is estimated at 30 % in 2004 (latest figures available).
Conclusions
• Developing EPR supposes to: – Encourage, through incentives (at first) and sanctions (beyond a
certain horizon), producers, importers, retailers, collectors and recyclers to implement a system for collecting and recycling used products and goods and their wastes.
– Initiate the eco-design of products and goods: implement incentives for producers that design products generating less waste in the end of life cycle and are more easily recyclable, in one hand, and, in the other hand, disincentives contributions for goods and products generating too much wastes.
– Establish sustainable financing mechanisms for the management of these value chains: These mechanisms should be directly regulated by the profession.
