Transforming recycling in communities in Latin America with Delterra

The GIRO project, which is also supported by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, is currently in its fourth phase. Rethinking Recycling’s team is putting in place formal recycling systems to collect waste and recyclables from door to door for approximately 1,800 households. This marks an increase of over 1,000 households covered, compared to the previous phase. The project started with a phase-one pilot of 160 households in Olavarría, Argentina, and is now expanding to cover the entire city.

Amcor has played a key role in the success of the GIRO project, through actively participating alongside Delterra, the Alliance and city officials to ensure the decisions made and the approaches followed deliver a significant impact. For example, we participated in the city-selection process for the Rethinking Recycling initiative, through which Olavarría was chosen. We also helped to convey to all potential partner cities that companies such as Amcor are committed to supporting sustainability efforts in local markets.

In addition to this, we have leveraged our customer network to expand support for the Rethinking Recycling initiative from other major consumer packaged goods companies. We’ve also collaborated in the organization of workshops with supply-chain partners, thus helping to address the challenges of recycling along the entire value chain, instead of providing piecemeal solutions.

This support has helped Delterra to roll out the waste-collection service to around 1,800 households to date, and educate approximately 4,500 residents using face-to-face engagement, a key ingredient in driving behavior changes and participation. Through these efforts, the project has been able to significantly reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Rethinking Recycling estimates that it has diverted approximately 10% of the waste from the pilot areas from going to landfill – a sizeable improvement in comparison to the 1% formal recycling rate that existed before Rethinking Recycling’s interventions. The Rethinking Recycling teams are confident that the figure of 10% stands to further improve as the program is rolled out more widely in the city.

Furthermore, local waste workers now have access to safer and healthier working conditions. Their incomes have also increased, owing to the additional revenue generated from the sale of a higher percentage of recyclable materials.

In the next phase, we’re helping Delterra to rapidly increase the number of participating households and are providing back-office support. In time, the aim is to roll out the project to the entire city – scaling up not just our efforts, but also the results.

This project is just one of many that Amcor is undertaking to help improve recycling infrastructure and educate communities to increase recycling rates and promote better waste management. For example, Amcor holds leadership positions within plastic pacts across the globe, including the U.S. Plastics Pact and the ANZPAC Plastic Pact, which covers Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. In addition, Amcor supports the 4evergreen alliance in Europe. All of these initiatives are aimed at increasing the circular economy for packaging.

To learn more about Amcor’s collaborations and efforts to maximize recycling rates visit our Sustainability partnerships page.