Recycling collection system of cans : scalability of a pilot project in Wallonia

Abstract

Recycling aluminium and steel packaging are extremely important because it allows saving a lot of energy and CO2 emissions. Europe has understood this and established recycling rate targets on packaging waste. Some countries already reach these target but others struggle to do it. In order to be recycled, metallic packaging must first be collected. There are several collection systems in Europe to collect this waste and especially beverage cans. It seems at first glance that countries with a deposit system have better metallic recycling rates because they collect more packaging waste thanks to this system. Belgium is among the best countries in Europe in terms of recycling rate thanks to its waste management system. However, it does not use any deposit refund system for used beverage cans. The collection system for beverage cans used in Belgium is the door-to-door collection system where beverage cans are collected with the other PMD waste. The waste collection system is very efficient nonetheless, a lot of waste is not collected and recycled. Litter is a big problem and among the litter, beverage cans are the most common. The pilot project on rewards on beverage cans implemented by the NPO BeWaPP has for objective to improve the public cleanliness and thus to reduce the amount of litter. This thesis aims to look at the Belgian PMD collection system and the pilot project of rewards on cans. It compares the two take-back systems used in the cadre of the pilot project and tries to see which one could be the best if the project should be repeated.