Extended Producer Responsibility Schemes Research Articles

How Can Circular Economy Strengthen the Recycling of Plastic Packaging Wastes? Exploratory and Qualitative Case Study of the Danish Plastic Industry

This paper investigates how companies in the plastic value chain can comply with the requirements put forward in the European Union’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for plastic packaging wastes, which must be fully adopted in a Danish context ultimo 2024. Plastic packaging waste for recycling is expected to increase when the EPR scheme enters into force, just as national regulation seeks to avoid the incineration of plastics. Multiple case studies, applying an exploratory and qualitative approach, were conducted with three best-case companies within the plastic value chain to illuminate technical capabilities in sorting and further processing of plastics, current recycles strategies and market positioning. To access the possibility to prevent, reuse, recycle, and recover plastic wastes we make use of the waste hierarchy in combination with a circular economy approach, where suggestions to activities along the cascading chain are proposed to qualify the analysis. This paper reveals that only few recycling plastic value chains have been established that originate from plastic packaging waste from household, and there are none for food packaging reusage; the current unfavorable management practices mostly lead to downcycling of the plastic value chain to recovery only. It is further concluded that strengthening the EPR scheme is important, by applying, for example, eco-design, hereunder to utilize mono plastics of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and by fee-modulation using taxes/penalties to spur on the plastic industry to produce environmentally friendly products. Finally, alternative sources of handling and producing plastics are outlined as watermark technology, bio-plastics and PtX-nafta.

Review of Plastic Waste Recycling: Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives

Plastic waste recycling is pivotal for sustainable waste management, offering solutions to mitigate environmental impacts and conserve resources. This thesis reviews technological advancements, challenges, and future prospects in recycling various plastic types. It begins with an overview of plastic pollution’s global impact and the imperative to manage plastic waste responsibly amidst rising production. Recycling processes are explored, detailing collection, sorting, cleaning, and reshaping methods that extend plastic life cycles while reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The review highlights challenges such as plastic type variability, recycling infrastructure limitations, and market demand discrepancies, affecting recycling effectiveness. Technological advances, including mechanical and chemical recycling innovations, are analyzed for their potential to improve plastic recycling rates. Economic and environmental implications underscore the benefits of effective recycling, contributing to a circular economy and minimizing landfill waste. Future directions advocate for enhanced recycling technologies, standardized labeling, and policy interventions like extended producer responsibility schemes. By addressing these facets, stakeholders can collaboratively advance sustainable plastic waste management globally, fostering a future where environmental stewardship aligns with economic viability.

Electronic Waste Treatment Flows in Norway: Investigating recycling rates and embodied emissions

Norway is one of the countries in Europe generating the most waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) per capita. Extended producer responsibility schemes are incorporated as part of the national waste policy, with clear goals towards recovery of materials from the waste fraction. Investigating the WEEE flows in Norway, we observe clear improvements needed in the transparency of the sector, and based on the information gathered, we estimate lower recycling of materials than provided through official statistics based on reporting. 68% of WEEE sent to recycling treatments are recycled into reusable material. Accounting for WEEE occurring outside of the treatment system, only 58% is recovered for recycling. We also estimate the CO2-eq emissions of different End-of-Life treatments of WEEE, and the embodied CO2-equivalent emissions of each WEEE category, illustrating 1) what category carry the largest environmental burden with respect to its embedded materials, and 2) the environmental impact of specific treatment options within the system. We show how the recycling rate of precious metals have significant influence over the environmental impact recovery potential of the system. Its not just the amount of material that is recycled that is important, including a proxy for expended emissions effectively illustrates the need for more precise policy implementation to ensure a functional circular economy.

Review of the Policy, Social, Operational, and Technological Factors Affecting Cigarette Butt Recycling Potential in Extended Producer Responsibility Programs

Cigarette butts (CBs) are the most diffuse waste in the world, often abandoned into the environment without proper disposal. They are dangerous because of the numerous harmful chemicals potentially released by them into the environment. In the literature, there are several technological options for CB recycling, but some critical concerns could affect their effectiveness due to the quality and quantity of CB litter that is collected in the proper way. The extended producer responsibility scheme for CBs is proposed at the Europe level as an action to tackle CB litter and encourage sustainable product development. The present paper focuses on analyzing the existing literature to identify critical issues within the policy framework, social behavior, waste collection and transport, and technological processes. The collection and transport of CB waste is a major issue, being a key step for bringing CB to the recycling process. The main concern is the small quantity of CBs collected: 0.06% of the municipal waste and 0.18% of the unsorted waste in the case study’s administrative area of Perugia. Another crucial issue is the need for behavioral interventions to increase education and awareness of citizens that are smokers, addressing the discrepancy between smokers’ behaviors and beliefs. The main results, along with the critical issues related to the topics, are highlighted.

Global perceptions of plastic pollution: The contours and limits of debate

AbstractPlastic pollution is central to policy and public debates about anthropogenic damage to the environment. Negotiations for an international binding treaty to end plastic pollution provide a timely opportunity to analyse peer-reviewed papers concerning public perceptions of plastic pollution (n = 39). These focused on the impact of plastic pollution solely on the marine ecosystem, single-use plastics, barriers to recycling and risks of microplastics. Research studies explored public perceptions of ‘plastic pollution’, ‘marine plastic litter’, ‘marine plastic pollution’ and ‘plastic marine debris’. These terms are not interchangeable and frame the problem. Awareness links to media representations and personal ‘choices’ are limited by lack of options (extended producer responsibility schemes). There was limited discussion of reducing the aggregate global volume of plastics produced. Future research could explore perceptions of risk (toxic chemicals, bioplastics) plastics and climate change or plastics and global biodiversity loss (beyond turtles). The social meaning of plastics, the heterogeneity of audiences and the role of media in framing risks can help inform plastics-related policy. Social Sciences and media scholars are well placed to unpack the socio-cultural context in which plastics are intertwined in people’s everyday lives and how social meanings of plastics may change in response to global crises.

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior Approach in the Sustainability of Electronic Waste Management: Critical Success Factors for Extended Producer Responsibility in Uganda

Governments and its citizens contribute enormously to the electronic waste problem in relation to the consumption and its generation posing serious threat to the management of wastes. Uganda government is yet to enact an Extended Producer Responsibility related laws within their national legislations to manage E-waste effectively. The paper aims to examine the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system critical success factors based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and consider ecological design concept as a potential extension of the TPB in promoting sustainable electronic waste management. The survey questionnaires were administered to expert environmental-oriented government employees. Data was analysed by means of the Partial-LeastSquares Structural-Equation-Modelling. The findings demonstrate that the developed conceptual framework explain 52.4% variance in the intentions to participate and practice EPR systems, thus reflecting a good explanatory power while confirming the model robustness. The results illustrate all TPB constructs of attitude, intentions, perceived behavioral control and subjective norm, towards EPR schemes have significant positive effect on the outcome of sustainable E-waste management. Exceptionally, it indicates ecological design is the most influential predictor of sustainable E-waste management for implementation of EPR systems. Building on the study results, for proper electronic waste management programs deployment, and successful implementation of EPR systems, developing countries should target the TPB constructs, and ecological design as an extension factor. As policy implication, government should emphasize the nurturing of good ecological design behavior of organizations and also encourage effort toward green actions taken through penalties and incentives and by laws and regulations.

Exploratory compositional analysis of street bin litter: Empirical study in a regional city in Belgium

Street bin litter (SBL) is an overlooked waste stream and its composition has barely been studied. In a first characterization attempt, five sorting experiments were performed on SBL collected in Leuven, Belgium. The waste was sampled and sorted into 8 main and 39 subfractions. The largest main fractions found were illegally dumped waste (33 ± 3%), organics (17 ± 4%) and paper and cardboard (16 ± 2%). On a functional level, the street bins were estimated to contain about 35% packaging, of which beverage and food packaging constituted 46% and 38–44%, respectively. SBL is in relative terms too small a waste stream for economically viable material recovery. However, in order to make a full transition to a circular economy and due to its high visibility, SBL cannot be neglected. Preventive measures and the full application of Extended Producer Responsibility schemes can help to achieve SBL reduction.

Potential Analysis of the Plastics Value Chain for Enhanced Recycling Rates: A Case Study in Iceland

In light of the circular economy gaining momentum, plastics recycling is regarded as a key solution to keep materials in the loop. Continuous efforts are needed to achieve the packaging waste recycling targets set by the European Union. Hence, this work evaluates the potential of the Icelandic plastics value chain for enhanced recycling rates. In addition to identifying the main challenges and opportunities, a feasibility study was conducted on the expansion of the deposit-return system to Skyr cups, allowing for closed-loop solutions. Based on the status quo, proposals for the improvement of the current waste and recycling system are made. Insights were acquired by semi-structured interviews with nine key stakeholders in Iceland, representing vital groups that influence the plastics value chain. The obtained answers followed the same trend, pointing out that a circular economy within the boundaries of Iceland is currently not feasible. This is mainly due to the strong dependence on international partners in all parts of the value chain except waste collection. However, major improvements are required to enhance the current waste collection rate of 28%. No conclusive evidence was found to justify the suitability of Skyr cups for the deposit-return system, as the disadvantages outweigh theoretically higher collection and recycling rates. Moreover, the extended producer responsibility scheme implemented with the Icelandic Recycling Fund is a valuable tool to enforce a design for recycling of products, enabling higher recycling rates. Despite one recycler operating in Iceland, Icelandic stakeholders consider sorting and treatment of mixed plastic waste as economically more efficient by collaborating with experts throughout Europe. Therefore, they expect that the current practice of exporting the majority of the domestic waste will prevail. On the contrary, the authors propose a comprehensive waste treatment and recycling scheme within Iceland, which requires a sorting step prior to three possible pathways, being (1) mechanical recycling, (2) alternative fuel, and (3) waste-to-energy. The aim of the proposed scheme is a reduction in greenhouse gas impact of plastics entering the waste stage by an efficient and flexible design of the relevant technologies within Iceland.

The effect of plastic packaging recycling policy interventions as a complement to extended producer responsibility schemes: A partial equilibrium model

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes have effectively increased the plastic waste that is separately collected. However, due to the structure of the recycling industry, EPR cannot increase recycling rates up to the target levels.Additional policy instruments to increase recycling rates such as recycled content targets, green dot fees bonus for recycled content, recycling targets and taxes on non-recycled plastic packaging have been discussed on a political level in the last years. However, very little research has quantitatively studied the effectiveness of these policy interventions.Using a partial equilibrium model, this paper examines the effectiveness of the implementation of the aforementioned policy instruments to increase recycling rates and the impact on different stakeholders of the value chain: plastic producers, consumers, producer responsibility organization and recyclers.Results show that direct interventions (recycled content standards and recycling targets) have the benefit of decoupling the recycling industry from external markets such as the oil market. They can be a good starting point to increase recycling, but in the long term they may be restricting by not presenting incentives to achieve recycling levels beyond the targeted amounts and by limiting technological innovation. On the contrary, economic interventions such as a green dot fee bonus or a packaging tax create economic incentives for recycling. However, these incentives are diminished by the lower perceived quality of packaging with higher recycled content levels.

Circular economy practices in the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) industry: A systematic review and future research agendas

Circular economy is a sustainable economic development model. It replaces the traditional economic development model that relies heavily on resource consumption and waste generation. Circular economy is particularly important to the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry as e-waste contains toxic substances and precious metals. While previous review studies focused on specific aspects of the WEEE industry (e.g., “4R” circular economy strategies), these studies offer little details on how circular economy practices affect the development of the environment and economy in the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry. This study examines “10R” circular economy strategies to advance knowledge of the existing literature that focuses on “4R” circular economy strategies. To improve the methodology used in the previous review studies that apply subjective methods (e.g., content analysis), this paper conducts a systematic literature review on 208 studies and uses citation network analysis to examine specific circular economy practices in the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry. The citation network analysis identified five major research domains (i.e., “e-waste management systems and practices”, “e-waste legislation and its components”, “extended producer responsibility schemes”, “recycling critical materials from e-waste”, “circular economy strategies for the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry”). Based on these results, this study conducts a main path analysis to reveal ten major topics (i.e., e-waste recycling system; exploring untapped e-waste; compliance assurance of stakeholders; e-waste reverse logistics; reward and punishment mechanisms in extended producer responsibility system; verifying the rationality of product classification; recycling critical materials from urban mines; setting a specific target for preparation for reuse; “10R” strategies applied in the smart factory; consumer attitude toward remanufactured/refurbished/repurposed strategies and the resultant products) in the identified research domain. Finally, this paper proposes future research directions and provides managerial and policy implications for researchers and practitioners. • “10R” strategies for the waste electrical and electronic equipment industry. • Effect of circular economy practices on environmental and economic performance. • Related publications evolution characteristics in 2003–2020. • Five key research domains of circular economy practices and their major topics. • Research directions for future studies.

Are deposit-refund systems effective in managing glass packaging? State of the art and future directions in Europe

Glass packaging gives rise to major environmental concerns because it develops more greenhouse gas emissions than plastic packaging and its improper discarding causes the loss of high-quality desired resources.The reuse and recycling of glass packaging reduces greenhouse gas emissions and the use of newly extracted resources sand and soda. To mitigate the environmental impacts of glass packaging, countries have set-up various collection and recycling systems, which are often organized and financed through extended producer responsibility schemes. The most common collection systems are deposit-refund systems (DRS), separate collection in drop-off containers and comingled collection with lightweight packaging waste.By the end of 2035 a minimum of 65 % of glass packaging waste must be prepared for re-use and/or recycled within the EU Member States and thus proper policies and solutions should be adopted to achieve this target. In this sense, the present study aims at verifying if deposit-refund systems and their different configurations affect glass packaging waste reduction and recycling/recovery.To achieve this aim, annual data regarding consumption and recycling/recovery of glass packaging for each European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association (EEA/EFTA) country were extracted over the time period 2010–2019. By using the selected European countries as units of analysis, a hybrid methodology was developed which includes the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and other descriptive statistics.Findings show that the different waste management systems affect neither the amount of glass packaging consumption nor the glass packaging recycling/recovery.In countries which adopt DRS, not more glass packaging per capita was retrieved than in countries which adopt other collection and management systems. In fact, it turns out to be a mechanism that allows for high quality glass packaging collection avoiding its ending up in landfills, but it does not influence consumption choices and the subsequent potential waste production.The adoption of DRS-based collections does not result necessarily in a successful management model for glass packaging. Since setting up additional drop-off collection points and recovering mechanically glass from municipal solid waste (MSW) does not result in glass qualities to be used in glass packaging, DRS represent still the sole progress towards a more circular economy.

Plastic pollution on Durance riverbank: First quantification and possible environmental measures to reduce it

Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing issues of our time, with negative impacts on natural ecosystems, human health, and the climate system. The identification of top litter items discarded in the environment is essential to prioritize environmental policies to prevent plastic leakage and promote a circular economy. Here, we present the first quantification of macrolitter on three sites along Durance riverbank and one site on Lake Serre-Ponçon's beach, in the Région SUD–Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, southeastern France. Data were collected through citizen science between 2019 and 2020 in three sampling occasions (autumn, winter, spring) on Durance riverbank and in 22 occasions on Lake Serre-Ponçon. A total of 25'423 litter items were categorized, of which 82% were plastics. Single-use plastic items correspond to 8.13% of total, while single-use plastic bottles are among the top 10 litter items at each site. Median litter abundance across all samples is 2,081 items/100 m survey, two orders of magnitude higher than European precautionary threshold value for marine litter (20 items/100 m survey). The majority of items (74.83%) were small and non-identifiable. Pieces of polystyrene, soft plastics and rigid plastics represented the majority of litter items in total (56.63%) and at S1 (89.28%), S2 (58.95%) and S3 (79.60%). Glass pieces corresponded to 15.83% of total litter items. Soft plastic pieces are the most abundant litter category overall and correspond to 58.85% of litter items at sampling site along Durance riverbank located in an agricultural zone, suggesting their source from agricultural plastic mulch films. Among the identifiable items, the most abundant were plastic biomedia used in waste water treatment plants and single-use beverage bottles in plastic and in glass. The development of extended producer responsibility schemes for plastic mulch films and plastic biomedia and of deposit return schemes for single-use beverage bottles is suggested as a way to prevent leakage in the environment. This work confirms the opportunity to use citizen science to gather relevant data on macrolitter items and to monitor the effectiveness of environmental regulations to reduce plastic pollution.

The Problem with Packaging

Cardboard packaging, aluminium cans and plastic bottles all fly by and will be recycled. Additionally, 31 per cent could be reprocessed through new technologies like chemical recycling. Plastic (along with wood) remains the laggard with 632,000 tonnes of the 1.4 million tonnes recycled (44 per cent). New targets under the government's extended producer responsibility scheme are for 68 per cent of all packaging to be recycled by 2024 and 76 per cent by 2030. These wrappers, bags and pouches make up a fifth of all plastic packaging, but only 6 per cent is recycled and almost none of it is recycled back into food packaging. Almost none of the 3.2 billion pieces of fibre-composite food packaging placed on the market were recycled because there was "no recycling or infrastructure in place" for these materials. Extended producer responsibility is, for many, the flagship packaging policy on which everything else hangs. The more recyclable the packaging, the lower the price producers will pay. In turn, packaging that is difficult or costly to recycle should attract a very high cost. Nonetheless, some packaging manufacturers are irked. For example, compostable packaging will be branded 'do not recycle'. The national packaging waste database shows 51 per cent of plastic packaging was recycled in 2020 - 41 per cent of it in the UK. In 2018, that figure was 35 per cent. To hit 30 per cent recycled content for all plastic packaging placed on the market would require doubling the reprocessing capacity to 460,000 tonnes, according to Steve Morgan at charity Recoup.

A STUDY OF THE EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (EPR) SCHEME FOR PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT IN GERMANY

Plastic waste management is a major trending issue in the world today, as the volume of waste increases on a daily basis. As the volume of plastic waste continues to rise, the negative consequences have resulted in critical environmental issues confronting many countries in various contexts. Many developed countries, however, have adopted the use of environmental policy instruments as a critical role in determining and improving the state of their environment. Germany is an excellent example of this, where the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme as a policy has aided in the management of product end-of-life cycles and environmental improvements to manufacturing systems. This article discusses Germany's transition from the Producer Responsibility Organization to the EPR scheme. Data were collected from across all 16 federal states' waste management policies. The author was able to analyze and investigate Germany's transition from the Producer Responsibility Organization to the EPR scheme using the case study method. The literature review for this research framework includes the current sustainability state of the environment, the contextual framework, and formulation, assessment, and reports on plastic management.To support the research findings, field observations were conducted by scouting through the plastic bottle collection processes at a selected locations and store outlets in Germany. More research into how to expand EPR programs in Germany to allow for the recovery of other plastic forms is suggested by the researcher.

Assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of packaging waste EPR schemes in Europe

This paper provides an analysis of the performance of European packaging waste systems, focusing on Extended Producer Responsibility schemes and Producer Responsibility Organizations. We adopt two separate but complementary empirical analysis: i) an indicator-based assessment of the cost-efficiency and recycling effectiveness of PROs; ii) a regression analysis of the determinants of recycling rates at the national level. The analysis spans over 25 national schemes and 21 Producer Responsibility Organizations. Our findings show that systems that have higher recycling rates do not entail necessarily higher costs. Non-competitive systems are more successful in increasing recycling rates no matter the cost; moreover, they are better able to use funds collected from EPR fees charged to producers, delivering improved cost-efficiency. Furthermore, higher recycling rates are associated with systems in which local authorities retain the operational responsibility of collection. Systems that do not involve local authorities always underperform. The policy implications are clear: local authorities should have some responsibility for collecting and sorting packaging waste and competitive systems should not be looked at as a first choice when designing a national recycling strategy. A mix of policy schemes, including non-profit EPR, door-to-door collection and Deposit-Refund-Schemes can be effective strategies for increasing the recycling rates of the waste streams that need more intervention, most notably plastic packaging.

Beyond the Import Ban: Will China Tackle Its Waste Crisis?

Abstract The exponential growth of solid wastes in China has besieged its cities and villages, causing contamination of the land, water, and air and threatening public health and environmental safety. Efforts to expand safe disposal capacity by landfill and incineration have failed to catch up with the speed of waste increase. To tackle the looming waste crisis, China is shifting the focus of waste management from final disposal to waste prevention and reduction and waste to resource transformation by reuse, recycling, and recovery. This article analyses China’s waste management 2.0 under the revised Law on the Prevention and Control of Pollution by Solid Wastes and examines key regulatory initiatives including the waste import ban, the plastic ban, the extended producer responsibility scheme, and the compulsory waste-sorting program, which target the sources of waste generation. It further discusses the challenges ahead and criticizes the gaps in implementation of the municipal solid waste levy reform, green consumption, and the management of construction waste and rural waste.

The past, present, and future of plastic pollution

Plastic production is an essential part of the world economy that has mushroomed exponentially with c.9.2 billion tonnes estimated to have been made between 1950 and 2017. Now, each year c.8–11 million tonnes of plastic waste escapes into the oceans. Plastic usage is varied but the packaging industry accounts for 47%. Recycling and the circular economy are seen as keys to unlocking the plastic problem, for example, via the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme; a Deposit Return Scheme. The circular economy is a fine idea and has been around a long time, but has it made any real difference? The amount of plastic in circulation keeps getting bigger and bigger. More thought must be given to creating technologies and designs that can deal with waste management, integrate international collaboration and cut waste to a bare minimum at its source point upstream. No single solution exists, but there is a need for a legally binding global governance arrangement that would effectively and measurably limit and control plastic pollution. Many governments are in favour of this.

Volume-based assessment of coastal litter reveals a significant underestimation of marine litter from ocean-based activities in East Asia

Most marine litter monitoring surveys are based on item count, leading to an underrepresentation of larger litter. To better understand significant sources, this study conducted a volume-based marine litter survey in 2020, covering 1% of Taiwan’s 1680 km coastline. In four monitoring periods, a total of 636 m3 of marine litter was detected from which ∼70% stemmed from derelict fishing gear (DFG), ∼20% from plastic bottles and ∼10% from other waste. Survey pictures revealed 66 types of DFG which were compiled into an index. The most frequent items were hard plastic buoys from China and Taiwan. At an average concentration of 877 dm3/100 m, Taiwan showed an extremely high level of DFG pollution. Therefore, this study calls for better domestic waste management practices and the introduction of an extended producer responsibility scheme for fishing gear.

Designing out waste: which levelers for local authorities?

Waste prevention is at the core of both the circular economy and waste management plan of local authorities. They are tasked with collecting and handling products (and effluents) that citizens deem unsuitable for them and find the best outlet for them, considering economic and environmental constraints. Even with significant changes in waste management practices over the last two decades, with notably the generalization of Extended Producers Responsibility schemes, European local authorities have not been able to substantially reduce the amount of waste they manage, both in quantities and volumes. Based on the strategies developed by local authorities and quantitative assessment of waste generation in Brittany - France, this paper aims at identifying the current barriers and opportunities for local authorities to designing out the waste they manage. A cross-sector analysis of waste management by local authorities in Brittany for electrical and electronic products, which is managed under an extended producer responsibility scheme and for agro-food production is presented. It shows a general lack of collaboration and information exchange between designers, industrial stakeholders and local authorities that prevents the implementation of more efficient waste management strategies. The situation could be improved through at least information exchanges.

Quantifying economic activity in the informal recycling sector in South Africa

Informal waste reclaimers are a key part of South Africa’s recycling economy, being responsible for around 51% of all paper and packaging waste collected in South Africa in 2017. Active in the waste and recycling landscape for more than three decades, their activity predates the earliest voluntary paper and packaging Extended Producer Responsibility schemes. However, these voluntary schemes have been instrumental in scaling South Africa’s recycling economy. Investment by brand owners, retailers, converters and recyclers has helped develop local end-use markets, creating a demand for paper and packaging recyclables and a resultant increase in their collection. An analysis of tonnage and price data shows that the mean estimate of money paid by the private sector to the informal waste sector through the purchase of recyclables at intermediaries such as buy-back centres, was ZAR625 million in 2012, increasing to ZAR872 million in 2017. This private sector ‘investment’ in the local recycling economy has led to direct and indirect job creation and improved livelihoods, particularly for a large, well-established and effective informal waste sector, and has indirectly funded municipal waste diversion strategies, saving municipalities in both the collection and disposal of waste. Significance: Informal waste reclaimers make a significant contribution to the diversion of paper and packaging recyclables from landfill to recycling in South Africa. Limited information exists on the earnings of informal reclaimers. This paper provides new insights on the annual financial payments made by the private sector to informal reclaimers for the collection of recyclables.