B4.7.1 PET Waste Exports in Tunisia, 2000–18

BOX 4.7

Tunisia: The ECOLEF Program to Increase Recycling (Continued)

facilitated creation of specialized companies— currently comprising 180 microcollection companies contracted by ANGed, 80 microrecycling companies, and 45 collection and storage points and centers. It has also created an estimated 18,000 jobs and collected more than 150,000 tons of plastic-packaging waste. For the recycling of plastics, polyethylene terephthalate (PET)—generally used to make bottles—is collected, cleaned, ground up, and then exported to other countries. Other plastics like PEHD waste (such as plugs and rigid boxes) are collected, cleaned, crushed, and processed into raw materials.

Because of the international context at the time the program was created, it also had a significant impact on increasing the exports of PET waste. Those exports increased by 96 percent between 2001 and 2013, averaging US$3 million in value. However, since 2014, and following the China plastic-import ban in 2017, Tunisia’s plastic-waste exports have been declining significantly (figure B4.7.1 ).

After the Tunisian revolution (or Jasmine Revolution) in 2011, waste management in urban and rural areas deteriorated. This had a significant negative impact and disrupted the main phases of the cycle from waste collection to recycling. The ECOLEF system has faced several difficulties, resulting in decreased quantities collected and reduced numbers of active recyclers in the system.

FIGURE B4.7.1

PET Waste Exports in Tunisia, 2000–18

Volume of PET exports (tons) 7,000

6,000

5,000

4,000 3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

3,000

2,000 1.5

1.0

1,000 0.5

0 0 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 Exports Value

Source: United Nations Comtrade database. Note: PET = polyethylene terephthalate. Value of PET exports (US$, millions)

Source: World Bank 2021f.

countries have decreased taxes on “clean” goods to lower their final costs and incentivize their use (for example, compostable or bioplastic bags, coffee cups, and cutlery) (OECD 2015).

In the case of taxes, as throughout this analysis of plastic pollution of the Middle East and North Africa’s seas, the principles and practices of a circular-economy approach provide the best—and, indeed, the only fully workable—means to address this problem, because this approach (a) reduces pollution by reducing the use and manufacture of the pollutant (in this case, plastics); (b) reduces the impacts of that pollution on residents’ physical and economic well-being; and (c) simultaneously incentivizes the invention and development of new products and processes, which fosters employment and economic growth.

Taxes can be used to reduce waste management costs by decreasing the amount of waste packaging and end-of-life products being discarded. They can also discourage the sale of certain products (such as plastic bottles and food containers) that involve no recyclable packaging content and have high end-of-life waste management costs as well as to encourage consumers and producers to switch to alternatives. However, other instruments can be considered as “producer taxes” such as deposit-refund schemes (DRSs) and extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes that target aspects of waste management and recycling rates that cannot be easily addressed through taxes levied at the point of product sale (OECD 2015).

Policies to Address the Issue of Plastics’ Superior Performance

Plastics have important characteristics that greener alternatives often cannot compete with yet. In addition to their low prices (discussed in the previous section), plastic packaging preserves and protects food longer, consequently diminishing food waste—which is a key issue globally, including in the Middle East and North Africa and especially in GCC countries.18 Plastic packaging is also lightweight and flexible. Alternatives such as glass, aluminum, paper, and other more innovative materials (such as starch-based products) usually weigh more or are not as resilient and long-lived as plastics. Their higher weights incur higher transportation costs, both in a strictly economic sense and in an environmental sense by using more fuel, which further incentivizes the use of plastics for packaging. In the case of beverages, transporting them in plastic bottles instead of glass bottles uses around 40 percent less fuel (Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ 2020).

Some of plastics’ positive properties must be emulated by their innovative alternatives to make alternatives more competitive. Alternatives that are environmentally less harmful face an uphill battle emulating

these properties, while at the same time having to be price competitive. Achieving this requires concerted efforts supporting R&D on green alternatives and the diffusion of successful technologies.

Some plastics (such as SUPs) are more problematic than others; therefore, it is important to identify which products might require greater attention than others. Plastic film and multilayer packaging have low rates of recycling and high rates of leakage into the environment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ 2020), which merits concerted attention regarding alternatives. It is important to differentiate between options and examine on a case-by-case basis whether substitutes should be subsidized.

Promote R&D and Technological Diffusion of Alternatives

Materials (paper, coated paper, and similar items that can be composted) are available to replace most of the packaging and flexible plastics, particularly in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Recyclable paper is widespread globally now. For example, 85 percent of paper and cardboard is recycled, and this material is undergoing rapid innovation, leading to better barrier properties for food conservation and cost/weight performance (Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ 2020).19 Coating is important to increase barrier properties, particularly for food applications. Materials that can be composted are available, and new material formats that are under development (including nonplastic and compostable plastic materials) should meet relevant local composting standards.20

Because local conditions and the trade-offs of using the substitute materials play such important roles, key stakeholders in the Middle East and North Africa (local authorities, the private sector, and manufacturers) must work together to evaluate any proposed substitutions by conducting a full-cycle analysis to move forward. Studies by neutral bodies according to recognized standards make it easier to delineate the path toward decreasing plastic use while avoiding unintended consequences. Variables such as transportation; costs of food-production changes (switching to other materials involves new production and end-of-life disposal costs); new waste streams (coatings for certain papers or compostable materials might require specific recyclable technologies); and health impacts (food safety and chemical release of certain recyclable paper can lead to certain health risks) are some issues needing in-depth study when analyzing substitute materials (Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ 2020).

The private sector in GCC countries is already developing a renewable feedstock alternative that, with a conducive policy environment, could be scaled up in the region. In Saudi Arabia, SABIC has developed a polycarbonate (PC) based on certified renewable feedstock.

This solution reduces CO2 emissions by up to 50 percent and fossil depletion by up to 35 percent during production, compared with fossil-based PC production. This is a product of collaboration with the European value chain to develop more environmentally friendly products given the important role of the circular-economy agenda in this region. Spanish Petroleum Company (Cepsa), a Madrid-based multinational oil and gas company, has been a strategic value chain partner in this project, supporting SABIC through the production of renewables inputs. In addition, SABIC has formed downstream collaborations with other multinationals such as Unilever, Tupperware Brands, Vinventions, and Walki Group to develop new circular polymers from mixed plastic waste.

Win-win partnerships have proven strategic potential to grow the alternatives-to-plastics sector, and government policies should encourage these circular-economy approaches to reducing, reusing, recycling— and replacing and reformulating—plastics. SABIC’s new material is currently produced in Geleen, the Netherlands, and is not yet available globally. This certified PC resin may be used for applications in all market segments, such as automotive, consumer, electronics, electrical, construction, and health care (SABIC 2019).

High-income countries in the Middle East and North Africa could promote innovation and awareness of green alternatives through subsidies for companies conducting R&D on alternatives to plastics. Such subsidies could come in the form of tax breaks, lower import duties for these products, or simply increased public investment in companies whose R&D focuses on alternatives to plastics or on products with increased recyclable content in packaging.

Such subsidies for green alternatives could incentivize producers and retailers to develop and offer a broader palette of more sustainable products while also stimulating demand for greener products by consumers through lower prices and higher awareness. Often, businesses trying to invent or promote alternatives to plastics have difficulty borrowing on capital markets and face higher costs of capital (Barrowclough and Birkbeck 2020). Thus, introducing new and easier ways for such companies to attract investments and financing could play an important role in supporting viable alternatives to plastics (Barrowclough and KozulWright 2018). With the market for green products in the Middle East and North Africa still in its infancy, supporting this market is crucial to advance the use of such alternatives in the region. Some of these companies are already setting up and expanding their businesses in the region (box 4.8).

Reducing the volume of plastics being used and manufactured as well as replacing plastics require significant innovation,