Collaboration to Develop Certified Global Standard for Recycling Credits
The new standard is intended to authenticate and incentivize recycling activity globally, enabling organizations to receive recycling credits and meet sustainability targets using the blockchain.
Following a landmark signing during the United Nations Environment Program’s Second Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-2) from 29 May to 2 June this year in Paris, BEEAH Group, the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), and the management consultancy Roland Berger have entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a global standard for waste recycling. It has been endorsed by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCaE). According to the announcement, the platform will create a global market-based incentive scheme and standard measure for recycling recognition and rewards, “which will bridge the gap between the global sustainability agenda and the private sector and push the transition towards a global circular economy”. Developed using blockchain technology, the platform would aim to facilitate collaboration between jurisdictions and enable transparency across the waste management value chain.
The partnership is currently working out the standard’s framework and technology. The platform is intended to be revealed at COP28 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates – UAE) between November 30 and December 12, 2023. The dedicated marketplace “will connect waste producers and waste management providers to create a virtuous loop. Organizations, which recycle waste with verified sustainable waste management providers receive Voluntary Recycling Credits (VRC),” the information says. Using the platform would enable them to track the recycling activities in a transparent and standardized process; furthermore, it would help to realize their sustainability targets.
Khaled Al Huraimel, Group CEO of BEEAH Group, pointed out that the future VRC platform would enable BEEAH to create new, sustainable efficiencies across businesses and industries for waste management. “This new recycling standard will make positive impact on sustainability targets within the UAE and globally. While incentivizing recycling and making large-scale impact on creating a circular economy, we are also innovating to add new value to organizations that are managing their waste sustainably, enabling them to offset emissions and track their contributions to the national sustainability agenda.” According to the information, BEEAH Group is known for its zero-waste strategies and sustainability-driven technologies and set records for waste collection and landfill waste diversion in the Middle East. “The VRC standard is being developed ahead of COP28 in Dubai to help drive the UAE’s climate ambitions and serve as a new global model to accelerate towards net-zero targets while creating a circular economy.”
In March 2023, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted that contributions from the waste management sector could result in the mitigation of 1.8 Gt (gigatons) of CO2 emissions annually. As reported, this is possible through innovations across the waste management value chain and by limiting the usage of resources to manufacture virgin materials such as plastic.
www.beeahgroup.com, www.iswa.org, www.rolandberger.com/en/
(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 2/2023, Page 3, Photo: BEEAH)
