“A can of worms”: Aerosol waste within the context of EPR, some insight from South Africa

Abstract

According to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, the paper and packaging sector needs to prepare EPR schemes for management of their end-of-life products. The aerosol sector recognises that aerosols present somewhat different challenges at end-of-life when compared to other types of packaging waste due to the nature of aerosols in comparison to paper and packaging. The Aerosols Manufacturing Association (AMA) therefore initiated background research to determine the feasibility of developing an aerosol specific EPR scheme. The CSIR was commissioned to conduct research to determine the current practices relating to end-of-life management and the associated challenges posed by aerosol cans as part of the packaging waste stream. This paper presents the findings from a survey focussing on aerosol waste management practices and the challenges hampering increased recycling rates. EPR is a good option for implementing recovery of aerosol wastes. It should be considered that aerosol waste can be divided into pre- and post-consumer waste. There are instances where individual manufacturers have implemented recovery of pre-consumer aerosols, but respondents indicated that there are currently no formal takeback programs at municipal level for spent post-consumer aerosols. The informal sector does recover some of these items from households (post-consumer), but in general it was reported that buy back centres are reluctant to accept poorly dismantled aerosol cans. A challenge for collection is the low post-consumer volumes of aerosol can waste from households. Poorly managed aerosols do have several negative environmental, health and safety impacts. There is a need for more training and education on the specific requirements for handling and disposing of aerosol waste for the different stakeholders involved. There is also a need for innovative recycling technology which is simple to implement, and which is cost effective. Efforts should ideally be focussed on the pre-consumer waste streams, which can be recovered in relatively large volumes. The post-consumer waste streams present a co-mingled challenge, hence a ‘can of worms’ to mitigate. The findings of this research also provided evidence to AMA to inform their approach to EPR.