Quality of resources: A typology for supporting transitions towards resource efficiency using the single-use plastic bottle as an example

Abstract

The growing British waste management sector has consistently voiced the need to improve the quality of wastestreams and thus the value of secondary resources produced, in order to achieve higher reprocessing rates. Mis-management of wastes that may lead to contamination and degradation of the recyclate feedstock constitutesone of the main barriers in the pathway to a circular economy. The sector has also repeatedly called upon man-ufacturers to collaborate in designing materials, components and products (MCPs) with properties that aid re-covery, refurbishing, repair and recycling (e.g. separabilty of materials, clear labelling), as waste managersrecognise the value of early engagement well before MCPs enter the supply chain (i.e. before MCPs are producedand distributed to the end user). Nonetheless, progress has been slow with regard to improved design for pro-moting components and products longevity and segregation at source when they reach their end-of-use orend-of-life stage in order to promote circularity. China's ban on imports of low quality recyclates at the end of2017 marked the beginning of a new era in waste management. It drew attention to UK's dependence on exportof low-value secondary resources, placing‘quality’in the spotlight. This article delves into the notion of quality;how quality is understood and assessed at different parts of the MCPs lifecycle, and how it might be systemati-cally measured. A typology to distinguish avoidable and unavoidable designed and created characteristics at allstages of MCPs lifecycle is proposed to provide industry with a tool to design wastes out of the economy. Thetypology's application is demonstrated using the single-use plastic bottles as an example