As we move towards a circular economy with reusing packs and products and recycling the associated materials, we need to be mindful of the Health and Safety, as well as of the Worker Welfare and Human Rights side: Treating “waste” often involves dealing with contamination – for example a used pack which contained Chemicals, including many household products.
A key aspect to closely monitor through the process is, how the cleaning and treatment of the pack is done by those who are involved in the circular process. Robotics can help here. But in some parts of the world, human labor is used rather than robots. As much as we want our environment to be clean and plastic waste to disappear from our oceans and landfills: It is absolutely crucial to ensure in any circular model, that all minimum standards with regards to Health and Safety of those performing the collection, sorting, recycling activities are ensured. Depending on which part of the planet this is performed, unfortunately this cannot be taken for granted and therefore requires close monitoring.
Article by Henning Weigand
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