Le traité mondial sur les plastiques offre à l’Afrique une occasion historique de relever les défis uniques auxquels le continent est confronté en raison des effets néfastes du cycle de vie intégral des plastiques. À sa première session, le Comité de négociation intergouvernemental (CNI1) a prié le secrétariat d’établir, pour examen par le Comité à sa deuxième session, un document contenant des options potentielles pour les éléments d’un instrument international juridiquement contraignant, sur la base des communications des États membres, auquel 14 pays africains ont soumis des contributions individuelles en plus de la communication du Groupe africain sur ce qui constituera les objectifs fondamentaux, obligations fondamentales, mesures de contrôle et éléments de mise en œuvre du Traité mondial sur les plastiques.
Les membres de GAIA et BFFP en Afrique appellent les dirigeants africains à négocier un traité mondial solide sur les plastiques avant la deuxième session du Comité de négociation intergouvernemental (CNI2)
Trois ans après l’adoption par la Convention de Bâle des amendements relatifs aux déchets plastiques entrés en vigueur en janvier 2021, le commerce international de déchets plastiques a évolué, mais reste une cause d’injustice environnementale. En effet, les communautés et les écosystèmes des pays importateurs subissent une part disproportionnée de la charge toxique causée lorsque des déchets plastiques importés sont déversés dans des décharges sauvages, brûlés ou recyclés dans des conditions qui nuisent à l’environnement.
This report uses independent empirical research to evidence that incinerator bottom ash is insidiously hazardous and under-regulated. Risk is heightened by the fact that testing methods for its use as a building material are outdated. A list of fifteen concerns for public health and safety is provided in relation to the use of waste incinerator bottom ash in cement-based products and as road/pathway aggregate. Calls for the support of its use within a circular economy are premature, and, as per the precautionary principle, all ongoing usage should cease. Examination of independently analysed bottom ash provides a diagnostic on the operational steady state of waste incinerators, incidentally raising concerns about operational compliance with emissions legislation and the capacity of incinerators to produce benign bottom ash when fed with municipal solid waste.
In 2014, Ljubljana became the first European Capital to move towards Zero Waste. The city has managed to multiply its separate collection of organic waste and to reduce the amount of waste sent for disposal by 95% while maintaining waste management costs among the lowest in Europe.
The public company Contarina is responsible for the waste management in the district of Priula and Treviso in Northern Italy, serving 50 municipalities and more than 554,000 inhabitants. The decision taken by the local administration in 2005, to keep incineration out of the system, was the pre-condition for maximising recovery of value, and pushed the province to become the best performer in Europe.
The case of Bruges shows how a medium-sized city can effectively tackle food waste by developing a comprehensive strategy that includes all local stakeholders. In 2015, after assessing that 750,000 kg of edible food per year were wasted by retailers, the city of Bruges launched an ambitious Zero Food Waste strategy.
Who said Zero Waste cannot work in tourist destinations? In 2000, Sardinia was Italy’s worst performing region in waste management with a separate collection rate of 3.8%. Since then the situation radically changed, thanks to the decision of setting up a Regional Programme for organic waste within its Waste Management Plan in 2004.
Besançon and its surroundings have a population of 225,000 people of whom half is living in densely populated areas. Before 2008, waste was incinerated in the incineration plan which had 2 furnaces, one of them built in 1975 and therefore obsolete. That was the starting point of the waste management revamping to make it more sustainable. The political choice not to rebuild an incinerator entails need to both waste prevention and residual waste reduction.
Parma is located in Emilia Romagna, the top waste producer among Italian regions, with 636 kg of waste per capita in 2014. This led the Province to propose the construction of an incinerator in 2012. However, thanks to social mobilisation, the need for a new model of waste management became a central element during the local council elections who removed the pro-incineration mayor and elected a new one that was committed to start a journey towards Zero Waste.