The message from the United Nations to mark this month’s World Environment Day was very clear in its goal to step up recycling and beating plastic pollution – if you cannot re-use it, refuse it.
This is a mantra we should all adopt as the world wakes up from the slumber to recognise its shocking habits: that about eight million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into the world’s oceans every year. The equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic is being tipped into the sea every minute of every day.
The problem is often not the actual plastic product, which can be essential to our lives, but the way we dispose of it and whether we recycle it.
This is why the figures that emerged from the National Statistics Office this month were encouraging. They show that since 2010, there has been a steady and marked increase in recycling of plastics on the Maltese islands, with far fewer materials ending up in the landfill.
In a matter of six years, the separation of plastics originating from households rose steadily to 4,934 tonnes in 2016 from 1,000 tonnes in 2010.
But the figure that fills us with hope is that while the amount of plastic generated in 2016 was twice that in 2015, nearly all of it has been recycled. In all, 8,714 tonnes were generated, of which 7,915 tonnes were recovered and treated.
Of this, 7,876 tonnes were recycled, compared to 3,890 tonnes in 2010. This shows that if the right awareness campaigns are put in place we will reap results. The mantra “if you cannot re-use it, refuse it” is crucial in being at the forefront of consumers’ consciousness when buying products as awareness will yield better results than simply banning particular products.
Informed consumers will make intelligent choices and move away from buying environmentally damaging products. This will, in turn, slowly influence the market and stimulate innovation and eco-design.
At GreenPak, educational campaigns have been at the forefront of the cooperative’s battle to sensitise citizens to the damaging impact of behaviour that can be changed with little effort, yet achieve big results.
As the biggest collector of recycled waste on the island – covering close to 70 per cent of all local councils – GreenPak this year rolled out the Crush & Win campaign as part of its corporate social responsibility.
If the right awareness campaigns are put in place, we will reap results
Every day, it hands out €100 to consumers who crush their plastic containers and dispose of the item in one of GreenPak’s blue recycling bins across Malta, as part of its objective to target littering and reduce the amount of plastic irresponsibly discarded in the environment and particularly in the sea.
The government, too, is doing its part and has recently announced two strong initiatives: the introduction of heftier littering fines, and the release of the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (BCRS) consultation document to embark on a circular economy approach.
The main objectives of this scheme are to increase recycling rates and reduce litter, by adding a deposit to the purchase price of plastic bottles, metal cans and one-way glass bottles, which will be fully refunded when the container is returned at one of the reverse vending machines, which will be deployed around Malta and Gozo.
As GreenPak, we are looking at this scheme with huge interest and want to en-sure it is successful and works seamlessly with other schemes already in place.
With this in mind, we have joined forces with the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, the GRTU and Green MT to draw up a way to collect and recycle plastic bottles, metal cans and one-way glass bottles.
While welcoming the government’s initiative, we believe the private sector is capable of managing the system with enhanced efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and that the government should limit itself solely to a regulatory role and ensure effective enforcement.
We also believe it is possible to come up with a not-for-profit system based on the current best practices in the EU, which will provide the best service to all involved.
In the coming weeks, we will be actively engaging with all relevant stakeholders, including manufacturers and bottlers of beverages, importers, distributors and wholesalers, retail outlets including supermarkets and smaller outlets, hotels and catering establishments, as well as other waste operators/intermediaries and collectors to map the best way forward.
Resorting to quick-fix remedies will not give long-lasting results. If we want to protect the Mediterranean Sea and the marine life within it we need to start weaning ourselves off our addiction to single-use goods and make the right consumer choices.
It is only through education that we can make real changes.
Mario Schembri is CEO of GreenPak and a director on the Board of the Extended Producer Responsibility Alliance (EXPRA).