Out of the countries mentioned in the articles (India, China, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia) I can speak about India and to some extent China. These countries have a robust system of collection, recovery & processing of PET & cardboard. Although mostly unorganised & crude, it does insure some the highest rates of recovery & recycling of PET globally. 

The challenge is sachets, MLP and other non recyclable materials, which now has conveniently been clubbed under EPR by brands, providing zero traceability & transparency metrics, while funding NGO’s to market their flawed cause. The challenge is a lack of organised & mechanical infrastructure, effective utilisation & access to equipment & financing, in many of these countries. In India for example, many parts of the country there still is no collection system in place for solid waste. In these areas, organic waste is either fed to cattle or buried and sachets, packets of chips are burnt or disposed off in the open.

India has a system in place, is it the most efficient and socially responsible? No! What is need is for these brands that make massive amounts of profits to use part of that money to fund & establish mechanised infrastructure for collection, recovery, aggregation, transportation and processing of their waste. The need is to redesign products keeping circularity in mind, from material selection, designing to the final stage of recycling, which should be bottle to bottle, container to container, bucket to bucket, and not the green wash that is being sold to us, including the garbage labelled as compostable/bio-degradable being pushed on us, when we very well know that we severely lack industrial composting facilities to treat it as of now in our country. 

Of course there remain multiple challenges in regards social stigmas, corruption (Public & private), mafia and may policy related challenges, but that should only encourage these brand to finance and help set up a system of collection & processing, after all its their names are littered across streets, oceans & neighbourhood dumps.  

Many will state that through EPR & CSR they fulfil their requirements and duties, but the truth is that these systems to a great extent have been created to keep the money circulating with the same few hands, while these brands bombard us with messaging about how sustainable they are through crony NGO’s, all the while shifting the responsibility onto the consumer. 

Many of these global brands are American or European and while creating a image within their respective countries in collision with municipalities and governments of high recycling rates, are directly responsible for shipping trash to the developing world and then creating a narrative that it’s China, India, Indonesia and other who are responsible for plastic in our oceans. 

This is a global challenge requiring collaboration at a world stage between governments, companies and professionals from material science, packaging and waste management.