​The world is at a tipping point in tackling plastic waste, and countries are increasingly turning to sustainable solutions. While mechanical recycling has been the dominant method, it struggles with complex or contaminated plastics that often end up in landfills or incinerators. Chemical recycling, a technology that breaks plastics into their core compon...

​Approximately 85% of plastic packaging worldwide ends up in landfill rather than recycling. This is why EPR is so important, to make sure producers make more effort to ensure their packaging ends up in recycling. EPR stands for Extended Producer Responsibility. It is a policy approach where producers must take responsibility for their products throughout...

​In a world increasingly conscious of its environmental impact, everyday packaging has come under scrutiny. Australia, like many other nations, faces a crucial decision point. Data from the government-backed 2025 APCO targets indicate that, despite progress, Australia is not on track to meet its goals for sustainable packaging. A 2021 review further revea...

​In an era where sustainability is not just a choice but a necessity, the push towards using recycled content in packaging is gaining more momentum. Industries worldwide are increasingly focusing on the circular economy model, which involves more and more countries introducing post-consumer recycled (PCR) content targets. PCR content refers to the portion...

​In recent years, there has been intensified efforts to address the issue of plastic waste as governments across the world are attempting to close the loop. Through this push for effective waste management, chemical recycling has become a promising solution, offering a new approach to tackle the challenges posed by traditional plastic recycling methods. B...

​Junior Environmental Compliance Consultant Qin Audiawarman recently took part in a UN-sponsored packaging design project in Indonesia, in this blog we hear from Qin about the initiative, and look into why it is so important: 'I am thrilled to announce that I recently took a part in designing the packaging solution for Indonesia. This innovation was subm...

​Introducing a 5-part mini-blog series, dedicated to helping you understand what EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) is, where it came from and how best to comply. As a business owner, you may be wondering how the new regulations on plastic packaging will affect your operations and costs. In this blog post, we will explain what Extended Producer Respon...

​So it might not be very wise to make your packaging out of actual gold… However, if you are looking to lower Extended Producer Responsibility costs and help reduce the amount of plastic we consume, then it could be worth adopting the 'Golden Design Rules' for your packaging.The Golden Design Rules were developed by the Consumer Goods Forum's 'Plastic Was...

Post-consumer recycled (PCR) content is a term that refers to materials that have been used and then recovered from products that have been disposed of by consumers, such as plastic bottles, aluminium cans, and paper. These materials are then recycled and used to make new products. This is a topic that has been gaining significant traction in the United S...

​Big cities are where the highest concentration of population density is found, meaning they produce the majority of our pollution. However, this means they are the biggest source from whence we can reduce our environmental impact. They are hubs for education, innovation, culture, and sharing ideas. Explaining the concept of a circular economy and how to ...

​The European Union's current battery legislation was introduced in 2006 with Directive 2006/66/EC. With the current directive being subject to differing interpretations and with battery technology having changed substantially since 2006, the EU is now working on implementing new regulations. First presented in 2020, the new battery regulations showcased ...

​According to a draft bill that is expected to pass soon, Sweden will be introducing extended producer responsibility legislation for textiles from 1 January 2022. The EU Waste Framework Directive requires all Member States to set up separate waste collection for textiles by 2025. This is corroborated in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, and Lorax EPI ...

Lorax EPI is pleased to be involved in endorsing the position statement released by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation today (15th June) for packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).It has become clear that we need a circular economy for packaging materials in which they never become waste or litter in our environment. Packaging that cannot be elimina...

Last week, the Lorax EPI team gave a workshop on global packaging EPR developments as part of the Sustainability in Packaging US 2021 Conference. Our presenters took some time to investigate the true costs of packaging extended producer responsibility on a per-capita and per-product basis as well as discuss major changes in worldwide EPR programs that wil...

​At the beginning of 2020, France passed a comprehensive new law to amend its Environment Code (see our earlier blog for more details), which among many other things introduced new labelling requirements. Since then, a draft decree has also been published, which provides more details about what producers will need to do in future.​From 2021, any packagin...

​France has just introduced extensive new legislation ​(link in French) on waste management and the circular economy (the concept of ​​​designing the economy to minimise waste and pollution and to keep resources in circulation). Among many other measures, the new legislation introduces additional EPR schemes for products including waste from food vendors,...

​Nigeria's e-waste production has increased​ by 170% from 2009 to 2017, with a generation of 290,000 tonnes in 2017. In addition to this, Nigeria receives shipments of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) from abroad. 60,000 tonnes of WEEE are shipped into the country through Lagos ports alone, according to United Nations University research. ...

​As always, the Edie Live conference at the National Exhibition Centre was full of interesting and topical talks and debates. The main themes included single-use plastics and how to reduce these in addition to the need for introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) so producers take on the cost and responsibility of packaging and packaging was...

​The Packaging innovations event was held by Easyfairs over the 27th and 28th February with a major focus on sustainability. The Ecopack stage provided talks from industry experts, made more relevant than ever with the release of consultations from the UK Government. The consultations cover a tax on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content; a...

The Environment Audit Committee (EAC) is investigating the social and environmental impact of disposable fast fashion and the wider clothing industry. The inquiry is looking into how clothes can be recycled, and the waste and pollution reduced. On 27th November, the EAC questioned leading high street, luxury and online fashion retailers as part of their i...

The majority of Lorax staff attended RWM Conference 2018 after such a positive experience in 2017. We heard from countless waste and resources experts, consultants, members of advisory committees, NGOs and an inspiring MP. Key themes of the conference included global extended producer responsibility, plastic packaging and pollution, the future of EPR and ...

Earlier this year, the French Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition released their Circular Economy Roadmap (FREC) which is an operational transition from a linear ‘make, consume, throw' economic model to a circular model that integrates the entire product life cycle. This covers ecodesign, management of waste, consumption and reduction of wast...

Following the airing of David Attenborough's Blue Planet II, awareness of the global plastics problem​ increased drastically and plastics have become demonised. According to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in the past 50 years, plastic production has increased from 15 million tonnes in 1964 to 311 million tonnes in 2014 and is expected to doub...

The Environment and communications references committee has made many recommendations to the Australian government concerning the waste and recycling industry. Following evidence and comments from the industry, proposals have been submitted relating to the establishment of a circular economy; prioritisation of the waste hierarchy; the phasing out of petro...

On the 5th, 6th and 7th of June this year, the annual packaging waste and sustainability forum was held in Brussels. The days were filled with interesting talks from members of the European Commission, producers and retailers, industry representatives and producer responsibility organisations (PROs) who addressed topics such as the new EU recycling target...

On the 22nd and 23rd May, edie held their energy, sustainability and resource efficiency conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Their theme this year was mission possible: achieving a sustainable future. The conference was packed with exhibitions, advice clinics and a live theatre programme which was split into four areas: sustainabil...

Today, 18th April, the European Parliament voted to approve the package, a key part of the Circular Economy Action Plan, to update the current waste management rules. There was an overwhelming majority with 639 votes to 13 and 17 absentions. There are new, ambitious recycling and landfilling targets which will be used to increase the re-use of materials a...

On the 20th and 21st February, the European Commission held an EU Stakeholder Conference on the circular economy. The conference aimed to address the challenges and opportunities in delivering the circular economy through plenary sessions, a number of break out sessions and keynote speeches. ​The first plenary session discussed the EU Strategy for Plastic...

On 18th December, the Estonian presidency reached a provisional agreement with representatives of the European Parliament on all four legislative proposals of the waste package. The revised circular economy package was presented by the European Commission on 3rd December 2015 with four waste legislative proposals of the waste package and an Action Plan in...

The RWM is an exhibition of four industry events – The Energy Event, The Renewables Event, The Water Event and RWM. Held in the National Exhibition Centre over 3 days, the event had six zones representing the Ene​rgy, Water and recycling and waste markets.RWM's Mission Statement:'RWM seeks to build a community for a resource-efficient future. We co...

There's a wealth of knowledge about the negative effect plastic waste has on the environment. This blog seeks to uncover what the problems are and how governments and industry can stop it from getting worse. The problemRecently it seems that we have been overwhelmed with devastating facts and figures concerning the negative impact of plastic waste on our...

This afternoon at 15.15 the EU Council announced that they have reached a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a proposal for the revision of the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS) Directive. Just last week on the 14 June we reported that the Council had agreed its negotiat...

Following on from our last blog CONAI: Plastic Packaging Reporting Changes here are the latest updates on packaging compliance in Italy and how you should be reporting for the remainder of 2017. We have outlined two major changes in the CONAI scheme and we now have further information on the details and reporting schedules required.As a refresher, CONAI w...

Last month our blogs focussed around disposable coffee cups and the amount of waste they produce in landfill, and in June we looked at the effect plastic packaging is having on our oceans. There is currently considerable publicity surrounding these topics and the media is quick to notice the environmental effects and their social issues. However, it's imp...

In recognition of World Oceans day 2016, this month's blog is dedicated to all things plastic and the environmental solutions we can all contribute to lessen the amount of plastic waste ending up in our oceans. Because there's no two ways about it, plastic is polluting the ocean. World Oceans Day on 8 June aimed to raise awareness of the impact that plast...