(EBC) SOUTH KOREA INTRODUCES 'PLASTIC TOYS' EPR

South Korea will include plastic toys under its extended producer responsibility (EPR) recycling scheme from 2026, as part of efforts to boost resource circulation and reduce incineration and landfill waste. (17/12/2025)

Plastic toys had previously been classified as “difficult-to-recycle items” and were subject to waste disposal charges rather than mandatory recycling. Under the EPR system, producers meet their recycling obligations by paying contributions to a producer responsibility organisation, which then pays subsidies to recycling companies based on performance, according to the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment.

Although most toys are made of plastic and are technically recyclable, they have often been recycled at low quality alongside other materials, or incinerated or landfilled, due to limited incentives for recyclers to sort them separately, the ministry said. Unclear disposal guidelines have also resulted in toys frequently being thrown away as general household waste.

The government has since 2019 piloted a toy recycling system through voluntary agreements with producer groups, setting annual recycling targets that were consistently exceeded.

Under the new rules, which kick off from 1 January 2026, 18 categories of toys – including activity, puzzle, block and assembly toys – will be covered by the EPR scheme. The standard recycling cost has been set at KRW343 ($0.26) per kilogramme, reflecting the costs of collection, transport, sorting and recycling. Disposal rules for consumers will also be clarified. Ordinary plastic toys can be disposed of with other plastic waste, while toys containing batteries or electronic components must be taken to designated small appliance or e-waste collection points to reduce fire risks.

The revision also adjusts recycling cost benchmarks for other items under the scheme, lowering rates for 30 categories, including metal cans, while raising them for four items such as paper cartons, reflecting technological advances, material price changes and inflation. “This marks a turning point in bringing plastic toys that were previously incinerated or landfilled back into the resource cycle,” Kim Go-eung, director general for resource circulation at the ministry, said in a statement.

South Korea generates one of the highest volumes of plastic waste per capita among OECD countries, driven by heavy use of packaging and disposable consumer goods. According to government data, the country produces several million tonnes of plastic waste each year, with plastic making up a significant share of household waste. While recycling rates are officially high, a significant share of plastic waste has historically been incinerated or landfilled, particularly items deemed difficult to recycle, such as mixed or composite plastics.

In recent years, the government has tightened recycling standards, expanded extended producer responsibility schemes and restricted waste exports, following disruptions to overseas recycling markets, including China’s import ban introduced in 2018. 

Thoughts

South Korea's decision to bring plastic toys within its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme is another reminder that EPR is evolving far beyond packaging. Rather than treating toys simply as household waste, the policy recognises that producers should also play a role in funding their recovery and recycling.

What stands out to me is the willingness to tackle a difficult waste stream that many countries have largely ignored. Plastic toys are often made from mixed polymers, may contain electronics or batteries and are frequently discarded in residual waste. They're not an easy recycling success story but South Korea has chosen to address the problem rather than avoid it.

Having first piloted the approach and demonstrated that collection targets could be exceeded, the SK government has now embedded the system into national policy. It's a practical example of evidence informing legislation rather than legislation hoping the evidence will follow.

Whether the scheme ultimately delivers genuine circularity or simply higher collection rates remains to be seen but it's an ambitious step that many other countries, including the UK will watch with interest. If EPR is to become a genuine driver of resource efficiency rather than simply a funding mechanism, this is exactly the sort of innovation worth following.

More of this article (eco-business.com) - link - more like this (toys) - link - more like this (Korea) - link

(GUF) BOTLEY ROAD, OXFORD

Contractors at the Botley Road Oxford Railway Station project have announced today that they've just uncovered a nest containing two hundred great crested newts, nine badgers, fifty six bats, twelve dormice, sixty three otters and a water vole sitting on a WWII German SC 2500 UXB covered in Japanese knotweed sitting within the remains of a Roman villa.

They have advised that this may delay the project - calls for resignation - link - more like this (railways) - link - more like this (road works) - link

(GUF) FLEXIBLE PLASTICS - WHY BOTHER

Image inspiration - René Magritte - link

The announcement that mandatory household collections of flexible plastic packaging in England will now be delayed until 2030 has understandably disappointed many organisations that have invested significant time and effort promoting packaging recyclability. Others, particularly within local government and parts of the waste management industry have in turn argued that the additional time is necessary because the collection, sorting and reprocessing infrastructure is simply not yet ready. Perhaps both sides are focusing on the wrong question?

Instead of asking how quickly can we collect flexible plastics, maybe we should be asking whether mixed household flexible plastics should ever have been considered a mainstream recyclable material in the first place?

For years, policy has moved steadily towards expanding household recycling collections to include more materials; an attractive ambition but ambition alone doesn't create a circular economy as ultimately, recycling depends on more than collection; it requires consistent feedstock, viable reprocessing and reliable end markets for the recycled material, and that's where flexible plastics become challenging.

According to WRAP, flexible plastic packaging accounts for more than a quarter of consumer plastic packaging placed on the UK market but only around 7% is currently recycled. WRAP identifies multiple reasons including packaging design, limited collection infrastructure, sorting challenges, insufficient reprocessing capacity and underdeveloped end markets which indicates that the challenge extends far beyond simply asking households to put more material into their recycling bin.

Compared with relatively well established bottle waste streams such as PET and HDPE, mixed household flexible plastics are much lighter, made from many different plastic types and significantly harder to sort into consistent recycling feedstock. Even where they are successfully recycled, much of the resulting material is currently used in products such as refuse sacks, drainage products, agricultural applications and construction products rather than returning to equivalent food contact packaging and whilst there's absolutely nothing wrong with those products; they all represent genuine recycling and have an important role to play but do they demonstrate a mature circular economy or simply illustrate the current limitations of the market itself?

Extended Producer Responsibility will undoubtedly change who pays for managing packaging waste and it should, in time, encourage better packaging design but changing who funds a recycling system doesn't automatically create domestic reprocessing capacity or robust commercial demand for the recyclate that it produces. Those remain separate challenges and this raises what I believe is the more important policy question.

If nationwide household collections require significant new investment in collection systems, sorting facilities, reprocessing infrastructure and continuing producer support, shouldn't the government firstly demonstrate that those investments deliver greater environmental benefit than alternative approaches such as better packaging design, waste prevention, reuse systems or focusing resources on materials where mature closed loop markets already exist? All things considered, public policy shouldn't simply be about increasing recycling tonnages; in reality, shouldn't it be about achieving the greatest environmental benefit from finite resources?

None of this is an argument against flexible plastics themselves. In many applications they reduce packaging weight, help protect products and extend shelf life, potentially preventing food waste. Neither is this an argument against specialist recycling companies recovering clean, consistent flexible plastic streams. It is, however, a challenge to the assumption that every flexible plastic package naturally belongs within a universal household recycling system?

Perhaps mixed household flexible plastics are better regarded as specialist materials requiring specialist collection and specialist reprocessing, funded/subsidised appropriately by those placing them on the market and/or using them, rather than assuming they can simply be added to mainstream kerbside collections.

The decision to delay household collections until 2030 may therefore represent something other than a lack of ambition. It may unintentionally reflect an acknowledgement that collection infrastructure alone cannot create a circular economy.

In my opinion, the real test of successful recycling isn't how much material we collect, it's whether we can consistently transform that material into products for which there is genuine, sustainable demand and I'd welcome informed debate on that proposition. WRAP - link - more like this (soft plastics) - link - more like this (WRAP) - link

(TPA) RECYCLED POLYMER - MANDATE IT OR FORGET IT

Photo: AAP Image/Jono Searle

Australia's soft plastics recycling industry now stands at a critical juncture. The growth in processing capacity and successful clearance of REDcycle stockpiles provide reasons for optimism. However, achieving a truly circular economy will require coordinated action from governments, manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

Regulations on the ban of soft plastic waste exports came into effect in 2021 through the National Waste Action Plan.

During this time, several types of plastic could not be recycled in Australia, which led to the granting of temporary plastic waste export exemptions, to allow the industry time to catch up on recycling capabilities. Domestic recycling infrastructure was initially unable to process all collected materials.

The industry now says recycling capacity has increased and that too much plastic is being exported, through both legal exemptions and potential criminal actors selling waste internationally at higher costs than can be sold in Australia.

The industry has further claimed that Australian businesses are struggling to secure enough feedstock because recyclable plastics continue to leave the country, limiting the ability of local facilities to operate efficiently and grow. The federal government has confirmed that the exemptions will be wound back, but the industry wants more steps taken to keep plastic waste in Australia.

Australia goes through an estimated 70 billion pieces of soft plastics each and every year – that’s almost 3000 pieces per person. Australians used 3.4 million tonnes of plastic in 2018-2019. One million tonnes of Australia’s annual plastic consumption is single-use plastic. 84% of plastic is sent to landfill, and only 13% is recycled.

Australia’s soft plastics recycling industry is at a turning point

Significant developments have occurred in the last few years, resulting in the rapid expansion of Australia’s soft plastics recycling industry. It can recycle almost three times the level achieved during the peak of the failed REDcycle program in 2022.

11,000 tonnes of soft plastics stockpiled in warehouses after the collapse of the program have now been processed, marking a major milestone in rebuilding confidence in the sector.

These achievements demonstrate that investments in recycling infrastructure are beginning to pay off and that Australia is better positioned to manage its own plastic waste than it was four years ago.

Demand for recycled products

Despite greater soft plastic recycling capacity, recyclers say there is not yet a sufficiently strong market for recycled materials. Without reliable demand, companies may hesitate to invest further in recycling infrastructure and advanced technologies.

Environmental organisations and researchers have suggested mandatory recycled-content requirements for packaging as a possible solution. Such policies would create guaranteed markets for recycled materials and provide greater certainty for businesses investing in local recycling operations.

Designing packaging models & systems for a circular economy

Environmental advocates argue that recycling alone cannot solve Australia’s plastics problem.

A fundamental circular economy principle is designing products or packages in ways that make it easier to reuse and/or recycle. Poor packaging design continues to hinder progress around reuse and recycling.

The inaugural Unpackit Awards, organised by environmental groups, recently highlighted some of the country’s most problematic packaging designs. The awards named plastic-and-metal hybrid “franken-cans” as Australia’s worst packaging because they are difficult to recycle, often excluded from container refund schemes and combine materials that are challenging to separate.

The awards showcased examples of innovative packaging solutions, too, demonstrating that businesses can reduce waste through reuse and better design. The top award for best packaging went to The Udder Way’s refillable 18-litre milk keg system, which has reportedly replaced millions of single-use plastic bottles since its introduction.

The Australia Institute’s 2024 Plastic Waste in Australia report recommended a similar idea exemplified by the Fleurieu Milk Company, who had developed an 18-litre refillable keg for commercial use. Their kegs could also be used to refill glass bottles, and each keg eliminates the need for 7,000 single-use plastic bottles over the course of its lifetime. Reusable pallet wrap systems and reusable coffee cup initiatives for helping reduce packaging waste were also recognised at the awards.

The need to manage the crisis with circularity

Australia’s recycling industry is making meaningful progress, but improvements in packaging design, product stewardship and consumer demand are equally important. Recycling systems function most effectively when products are designed with circular economy principles of reuse, recyclability and waste elimination in mind. Poorly designed packaging increases contamination, raises processing costs and often creates confusion about what can actually be recycled.

Australia’s soft plastics recycling industry now stands at a critical juncture. The growth in processing capacity and the successful clearance of REDcycle stockpiles provide reasons for optimism. However, achieving a truly circular economy will require coordinated action from governments, manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

Retaining plastic waste materials within Australia, creating stronger markets for recycled products and encouraging packaging innovation will be essential if the country is to reduce plastic waste and build a more sustainable future.

The Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Bill

In May 2026, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson introduced the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme for Packaging Bill 2026, called ‘No Time to Waste’, into the Federal Senate.

The EPR scheme, in line with many overseas jurisdictions through the Bill, would have a direct and legally binding obligation on producers, importers or distributors of packaging for the end-of-life management of packaging they place onto the Australian market. The scheme would also see Australia’s National Packaging Targets mandatory and legally binding. More than 60 countries in the world have an EPR scheme around packaging. About 63–65% of Australia’s two-way trade is with Asian partners already implementing an EPR scheme, therefore it will be a positive trade alignment for the country. More of this article (the point) - link

Ultimately, the global plastics crisis is not merely a waste-management problem; it is a design, manufacturing, economic and consumer-behaviour problem. Australia may be at a critical juncture, but in truth, so is the rest of the world. More like this (Australia) - link - more like this (recycling) - link - recycling is not enough - link - plastic recycling needs PPT - link

(GUF) CLOSING THE CLINICAL LOOP

Image inspiration - Man Ray - link

The world of clinical waste is changing rapidly. For decades, healthcare waste management has been built around a relatively simple model: identify the waste, package it correctly, collect it safely and destroy it appropriately. Those fundamentals remain as important today as they ever were.

In truth, if you identify it correctly, package it correctly and destroy it properly, you rarely go wrong. However, the future promises to be far more sophisticated than simply moving yellow bags and sharps boxes from A to B.

Without wishing to oversimplify, good clinical waste management can effectively be summarised by three core principles:

• Correct identification (EWC code)
• Correct packaging (P621/P622 where applicable)
• High-temperature incineration (HTI) where legally required or operationally appropriate (>1000°C)

This belt-and-braces approach has protected healthcare workers, patients and the public for generations. Alternative treatment technologies undoubtedly have their place, but understanding what the waste actually is remains the single most important factor - the description creates the destiny. The way a waste item is classified determines everything that follows: its packaging requirements, transport obligations, treatment options, environmental impact and ultimately, its cost. Get the identification right, and everything else becomes significantly easier.

Sustainable and Smart Clinical Packaging

One area that deserves far greater attention is the packaging itself. Clinical waste management has traditionally focused upon safe containment and destruction but the next generation of products will place equal emphasis on sustainability, traceability and digital integration.

The challenge is straightforward; how do we reduce the environmental impact of clinical packaging without compromising safety or compliance? For clinical waste sacks, the answer may lie in the increasing use of recycled polymers. Modern manufacturing techniques now allow post-industrial and closed-loop recycled plastics to be incorporated into products while maintaining the strength and integrity required for healthcare environments.

The long-term ambition is even more exciting. Laboratory plastics, sterile wraps and other suitable materials could potentially be recovered, reprocessed and transformed into new clinical waste sacks, creating genuine circularity within the healthcare sector. Sharps containers present a greater technical challenge. These products must satisfy rigorous UN performance standards for transport and handling, including drop, puncture, stacking and leak tests. Consequently, manufacturers have traditionally relied upon virgin polymers to guarantee consistent performance, however, newer designs are increasingly incorporating recycled content where appropriate, reducing environmental impact without compromising safety or regulatory compliance. Tomorrow's clinical packaging will not simply contain waste safely; it will become part of the wider circular economy.

The Digital Sharps Box Revolution

Alongside sustainability comes digitalisation. The future clinical waste container is unlikely to be merely a box or a sack—it will be a data carrier in its own right. At present, most sharps boxes remain remarkably low-tech. Once assembled, they rely upon manual labelling and human processes to maintain compliance. The future will be very different. QR codes offer an immediate and low-cost solution, providing access to information such as:

• Manufacturing details
• Recycled content
• Carbon footprint
• Batch numbers
• End-of-life instructions
• Treatment requirements

Looking further ahead, embedded RFID technology could enable fully automated tracking throughout the entire lifecycle of a container, from manufacture and issue through to collection, treatment and final destruction; the ultimate cradle-to-grave solution. Standard sharps containers equipped with RFID chips could provide:

• Unique digital identities
• Automated chain-of-custody records
• Real-time fill-level monitoring
• Carbon footprint reporting
• Integration with electronic waste-tracking systems

As Digital Waste Tracking becomes mandatory across the UK, the opportunity to link individual containers to specific laboratories, departments or even individual research projects becomes increasingly attractive. Imagine a system where every sharps box possesses its own digital history:

• Treatment Date: 10/06/2026 – 10:27 a.m.
• Sharps Box: RF-000123
• Laboratory: Genomics Lab 3
• Weight: 2.4 kg
• EWC: 18 01 03*
• Treatment: High-Temperature Incineration
• CO₂ Generated: X kg
• Energy Recovery: Y kWh

No manual intervention whatsoever. The most likely future is a combination of technologies: QR codes for human interaction and RFID for automated systems. Much as barcodes and RFID coexist within modern logistics, smart clinical packaging could deliver both operational efficiency and robust compliance. For advanced research facilities and healthcare organisations, this would provide unprecedented levels of traceability, accountability and environmental reporting.

From Destruction to Resource Recovery

Historically, clinical waste has been viewed as something that must simply be destroyed. Increasingly, however, the question is becoming: what can safely be recovered? Modern autoclave systems already render large quantities of infectious waste safe before materials are, more often than not, co-mingled with residual waste. The current linear treatment pathway can be summarised by my accidentally memorable acronym:

ARSE

• Autoclave - Render Safe - EfW

The next generation of products and facilities will likely push material recovery much further, extracting plastics, metals and other valuable resources that would previously have been lost to incineration. The industry is gradually, finally, moving away from destruction alone and towards circular resource management, whilst maintaining the same uncompromising standards of safety.

The Rise of Advanced Research & Bioscience Waste Specialists

The growth of advanced research campuses such as Oxford, Harwell and other life-science clusters is creating entirely new waste challenges. These organisations sit somewhere between traditional healthcare environments and industrial research facilities, generating cell-culture waste, gene-therapy materials, mRNA products, laboratory sharps, chemical and biological mixtures and enormous quantities of single-use laboratory plastics. Managing these streams requires specialist knowledge that extends well beyond conventional hospital waste practices.

The future will see the emergence of dedicated Advanced Research & Bioscience Waste Specialists, combining expertise in clinical, hazardous and laboratory waste management within a single discipline. As research becomes increasingly sophisticated, so too must the systems—and the waste managers—that support it.

Carbon Will Become a Major Consideration

Environmental reporting is rapidly becoming just as important as compliance reporting. Clients increasingly want answers to questions such as:

• How much CO₂ is generated per tonne incinerated?
• How much energy is recovered from Energy-from-Waste facilities?
• What proportion of materials can be safely recycled or recovered?
• How can waste be designed out of processes altogether?

The waste management industry is moving from simple tonnage reports towards real-time environmental intelligence. Tomorrow's waste managers will spend as much time discussing carbon metrics and circular-economy principles as they currently do discussing collection frequencies, Category A and Category B classifications, and the differences between orange and yellow waste streams.

Artificial Intelligence and Smart Compliance

Artificial Intelligence is already transforming the sector. Future systems could automatically:

• Identify waste streams from photographs
• Question or confirm EWC codes
• Suggest correct packaging requirements
• Flag ADR obligations instantly
• Generate digital compliance documentation
• Predict collection requirements before containers become full
• Produce live sustainability reports

Rather than replacing experienced waste professionals, these tools will augment their knowledge, improve consistency and reduce opportunities for human error. The expertise of the practitioner will remain essential; technology will simply make good decisions easier and faster.

The Fundamentals Never Change

Despite all this innovation, the principles remain remarkably constant. Technology will evolve, regulations will continue to change and treatment methods will improve, but as mentioned earlier, the foundations remain exactly the same, identify it correctly, package it correctly and destroy it properly.

Get those three things right, and everything else becomes significantly easier. The future of clinical waste management will be digital, intelligent, increasingly circular and far more connected than ever before but it will still depend upon getting the basics right first. Tomorrow's packaging will not simply contain waste safely; it will tell a story about where that waste came from, how it was managed, its environmental impact and how the materials themselves can be brought back into the circular economy. The future, it seems, is not only safer and more compliant, but smarter and more sustainable as well. More like this (clinical waste) - link - more like this (packaging) - link 

(GRE) COFFEE COFFEE PODS

Italian coffee giant Lavazza has brought Tablì, its 100% coffee tabs that ditch plastic, wrappings and coatings altogether, to the US market.

One of the world’s largest coffee companies has introduced the “most ambitious product innovation” in its 131-year history. Turin-based Lavazza has introduced Tablì in the US. It’s a next-generation at-home coffee “tab” that eschews the coatings and wrappers needed for conventional pods or capsules.

First introduced in Italy with a dedicated Tablì machine, the tabs are made entirely of ground coffee, and will be available from August in five blends: Super Crema, Espresso, Double Espresso, Lungo, and Decaf. The single-serve solution targets the vast amounts of waste and environmental harm caused by conventional coffee pods, which are made from plastic and aluminium. More of this article (green queen) - link - more like this (coffee) - link - note like this (Italy) - link