RECYCLING

CONTAINER
New Infrastructure Development Proposal

Abstract

Abstract

This is a report for municipalities, governments and stakeholders to analyze the effects of introducing a
new recycling container that would financially reward households per kilogram of separated;
packaged or food waste.

2017
cocreations.space

Table of contents

Introduction P 3

Established EPR regulation... P4

EPR rewards. P 4
EPR taxes.. P 6

The recycling container. P9

Waste pays. P 9
The recycling containers compatibility .. P 10
The x-ray inspection system P 10
Detecting anomalies: metal beverage can, mixed with plastics.. P 13
Recycling container trademarked bags P 13

Recycling container manufacturer.. P 13

Recycling containers estimated manufacturing price. P 14

Financing the recycling container. P 15

Municipal ownership P 15
Private ownership. P 15

Recycling container return of investment. P 16

Numerical concept analysis. P 16
Marketing. P 20
Transport collection. P 21
Initial final recycling in the Netherlands.. P 22

Pilot project... P 23
Proof of concept.......... P 23
Steps to pilot project initiation P24
Work packages P 24

Conclusion P 26

2
 Introduction

The recycling container would solve the information asymmetry for source-separated municipal
waste, by removing quality
uncertainty; using a inspecting
and rewarding mechanism, that
enables an higher market price for
a peach rather than an uncertain
averaged lemon price
Akerlof1. The recycling
containers, inspect contents for
lemons, in order to secure a high return on investment from peaches, by receiving: the existing
EPR rewards2, the resale value of contents and a proposed portion of the transition fund in the short
term.

The purpose of this circular economy innovation action3 is to enable citizens to participate in the
transition to recycle the majority complex municipal waste stream into circular raw materials, by
upgrading collection technologies for packaged household waste.
The recycling container should be able to properly inspect disposed municipal waste contents and
provide sufficient financial incentivize for households to accurately separate obsolete municipal waste
per category of plastic, food, glass, metal, paper, drink
cartons and small electronics. The disposer will be financially
rewarded4 when the disposed separated municipal waste only
contains one material category; verified by the machines
weight scale and x-ray baggage scanning inspection system.

1
"Paper The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism" by George Akerlof.
removing quality uncertainty for source separated municipal waste
2
https://www.nedvang.nl/uploads/20170411_Vergoedingen_sheet.pdf
3
'innovation action' means an action primarily consisting of activities directly aimed at producing plans and arrangements or
designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. For this purpose they may include prototyping, testing,
demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication;
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/other/wp/2016_2017/annexes/h2020-wp1617-annex-d-ia_en.pdf

4
Behavioral studies show money matters and extrinsic rewards like money actually increase motivation.
Performance of recycling = ability to separate and inspect >< motivation of households to separate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reward_management

3
In order to validate the transition funds and recycling containers proposal, first a pilot project
should be undertaken to test the projects potential in terms of: citizens acceptance/usage, augmented
recycling rate, economic revenues and costs,
governments cost and gains and environmental impact.
In the selected municipality for the project, one to five
recycling containers5 should be
placed near several local
supermarkets. Providing residents
living in a diameter of 5 Km with an access & balance account card and various
colored bin bags (70cm L x 45cm H x 34 cm W). The residents access card, unlocks
any of the recycling containers nearby, where-in the separated household waste
contents can be placed, weighted, x-ray baggage scanned, transported internally and
stored on site for collection.

Established EPR Rewards

EPR rewards

The financial return for the financier or municipality investing in the recycling container should arise
in part from existing EPR rewards extended producer responsibility rewards: The EPR reward
mechanism has already been established in multiple countries, in the Netherlands the EPR reward
scheme is regulated by Nedvang who allocates the EPR rewards to support municipalities in
reaching waste recycling rate targets,6 whom in turn pay recycling businesses in the region to sort non
treated household packaged waste into upgraded to be further recycled content. Nedvang provides
financial rewards, per 1000 K.G. or 1 ton of sorted household waste, ranging from 0.7 cents per K.g.
to 76 cents per k.g of recycled municipal waste: for Paper carton A - 46.78 Euros per ton, carton B
7.31 Euros per ton, Glass fur - 46.78 Euros per ton, Glass colour separated 58.48 Euros per ton,

5
Recycling machinery that will maximize the separation and recycling of produced waste. P7 Uitvoeringsprogramma
VANG - Huishoudelijk Afval

https://www.nedvang.nl/uploads/20170411_Vergoedingen_sheet.pdf
6

4
plastics 756 Euros per ton, Metal packaging 70.17 Euros per ton, drinking cartons - 398 Euros per
ton.

https://www.nedvang.nl/uploads/20170411_Vergoedingen_sheet.pdf

A large quantity of household waste consists of obsolete plastic packaging, in different hard and
mainly soft polymer types. Even when plastic packaging is collected solely as a separate source, the
different types of plastic waste still need to be sorted into the various types of polymers categories to

5
become a further recyclable market product, this is done through optical sorting and costs around 200-
300 Euros per ton against the EPR revenues of 756 Euros per ton received by the municipality.
Other recyclable materials like paper 47 E and metal 70 E, provide lower EPR rewards, they
however shouldnt need sorting first and should provide a higher resale value of around 100 E per ton,
based fluctuating recycling market prices.

EPR taxes

The established EPR rewards are financed by an EPR tax charged to producers of household
packaged products. In the Netherlands Afvalfonds verpakkingen charges the EPR fees to producers
for bringing household packaged product onto the national marketplace, they charge producers the
following: glass - 56 Euros per ton, paper - 22 Euros per ton, plastics - 640 Euros per ton,
biodegradable plastics - 20 Euros per ton, aluminium - 20 Euros per ton, other metals 20 Euros per
ton, wood 20 euros per ton, average tariff 770 Euros per ton, drinking cartons - 180 Euros per ton,
deposit bottles - 20 Euros per ton, plastics without deposit 750 Euros per ton, expressed in Euros per
kilogram:

https://afvalfondsverpakkingen.nl/verpakkingen/alle-tarieven

6
Similar EPR scheme regulators present in other EU countries are; DSD Duales system Deutschland7 -
Germany, Fost plus - Belgium and others8, these organizations manage national EPR regulations and
are members of EXPRA9- an international organization that deals with producers of household
packaged items. A household packaging producer that signs a contract with an EXPRA member
becomes exempt from its own responsibility to take back and/or recycle used packaging material
within the scope of the functioning of the programme10 and gets to place a recycling "Green Dot"11
trademark logo on their packaging. The producers of packaged waste do however pay EPR taxes to
members of EXPRA such as Nedvang, who in turn would ensure the recovery and recycling of
packaging waste is done in the most economically efficient and ecologically sound manner.12

Existing EPR taxes and rewards, have been in place for while and have increased household recycling
rates considerably, however a large portion 56%13 of the complex household waste stream, is still
being incinerated and landfilled:
The recycling container would improve the European industry for the final recycling industries,
since advanced inspecting recycling containers can increase the supply of peaches - high quality,
low cost sorted municipal waste, on the domestic processing market.

The recycling container would make it cheaper to sort household municipal waste for businesses in
the optical sorting industry, since its contamination stream would be minimal, thereby increasing
accuracy and reducing the complexity of the optical sorting system. With existing EPR rewards it
could be economically feasible to operate the recycling container and financially rewards a group of
environmentally conscious households.

7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oylK48Y1xDc
8
The current members of EXPRA are Fost Plus (Belgium), Ecopack (Bulgaria), Green Dot Cyprus, EKO-KOM
(Czech Republic), Valorlux (Luxembourg), Greenpak (Malta), CONAI (Italy), Eco-Rom Ambalaje (Romania),
ENVI-PAK (Slovakia), EcoEmbes (Spain), Nedvang (the Netherlands), Green Dot Norway, ko Pannon
(Hungary), TMIR (Israel), CEVKO (Turkey), Herrco (Greece) and PAKOMAK (Macedonia).
http://www.expra.eu/en/about/faqs
9
https://www.expra.eu
10
http://www.expra.eu/en/about/faqs
The payment of EPR taxes enables producers to evade Verpakkingenbesluit that makes companies responsible for the
collection of their produced packaging.
Sinds 1 januari 2006 is het Besluit Beheer Verpakkingen en Papier en Karton (het Verpakkingenbesluit) van kracht. Dit
besluit maakt bedrijven verantwoordelijk voor de organisatie en kosten van de inzameling en recycling van hun
verpakkingsafval. Hiertoe is Stichting Nedvang opgericht.
11
"Green Dot" trademark and focuses its work on the protection and promotion of this symbol.
http://www.expra.eu/en/about/faqs
12
http://www.expra.eu/en/about/faqs
13
only a limited share (43%) of the municipal waste generated in the Union was recycled, with the rest being landfilled
(31%) or incinerated (26%).
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52015PC0595&from=EN

7
 1. Households in the region will be given an access card with a credit account on that unlocks
the recycling container. The recycling container inspects and determines the value through a
weight scale measurement and x-ray baggage anomies scan, where-after the inspected
contents is allocated to the adequate material category and the disposer is rewarded based on
weight by the transition fund on the cards account.

2. When one of the categorized separate containers is full or when the collection truck is nearby,
the contents will be collected and transported to a nearby processing centre. The processing
centres registers the delivery on Nedvangs wastetool and the existing EPR reward can be
claimed by the recycling container owner.

3. The funds reward, similar to helicopter money makes it possible to pursue a circular
economy, starting at the very beginning of a product's life. Nearby processing centres can
be supplied high quality inspected non food contaminated packaged waste material, often
directly processable into a new valuable raw material.

8
 The recycling container

The recycling container is a machine that weights and inspects separated household waste for
accuracy in separation, allocates disposed
content to the according container, stores the
content and arranges collection destined for
recycling. The recycling container would be an
automated self-service technology; replacing an
high uneconomical amount of labour hours that
would be needed to administrate, inspect and
measure the payments for the all the routine
disposed sorted municipal waste.

Waste pays

Entrepreneur van Rijn14 rewards environmental and economical households per kilo for most of their
separated waste and sells it for more as an free market
business: van Rijns action program Afval loont system
started as a joint project with the municipality of Hoogvliet.
Now Afval loont has established six Afval-waste shops:
in various towns that function as a store front where an
labour subsidized operator in the store or mobile truck
inspects, weighs and digitally registers the
reward disposed contents.

Afval loont pays out yearly amounts of 20-30

Euros to households, with a quarter of the
supplying residents taking the household rubbish from other residents. 15 Without extra subsidies
waste pays /waste shops are able to pay separating household waste disposers: 4 cents per
kilogram of paper, 7 cents per kilogram for drinking cartons, 10 cents for textiles, 5 cents per
kilogram for small electronic items, 10 cents per kilogram for frying fat, 5 cents per kilogram for
drink cartons.16

14
https://www.afvalloont.nl/over-afval-loont/
15
https://www.trouw.nl/home/afval-inleveren-is-geld-verdienen~afb6ade7/
16
https://www.afvalloont.nl/vragen/geld-sparen/

9
The recycling containers compatibility

The recycling container would instigate higher recycling

rates in the digital economy17, automating the registration,
statistics, inspection, weighing, sorting and logistics
process. The recycling container would be very
compatible with the recycling technologies on the market
today, that have been in part already been funded by
municipal EPR rewards. Recycling technologies that have increased recycling rates have mainly
composed of optical sorting systems:
Optical sorting systems can separate two streams
of waste per machine often with several optical
sorting machines connected in series, they
separate contents through air blow technologies
and can operate fast, however are relatively
expensive18, use a high amounts of electricity and
are not fully accurate with highly mixed streams.
The optical sorting operations could be improved
by a complementary recycling container since
optical sorting machines can rapidly and accurately remove any minimal anomalies in single content
waste streams and are especially great for separating mixed plastic sources. Final recycling19
processors set contamination limits, staying within those limits signifies direct processing, increasing
processing centre output.


The x-ray inspection system

In the complex municipal waste stream, it is sometimes not possible to recycle the contents, when its
contaminated with food. Today, only around 40% of the waste produced by EU households is

17
support of research and innovation will be a major factor in encouraging the transition; it will also contribute to the
competitiveness and modernisation of EU industry.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52015DC0614
18
around 200,000 Euros per machine
19
Contamination level acceptance depends on material that is being recycling and processing technology.
real recycling rates at the input to the final recycling process. To truly drive circularity in Europe, it is essential that
material is only considered recycled once it enters the final production process and is actually reprocessed.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/sustainable-dev/news/meps-bolster-eu-recycling-and-landfill-targets/

10
recycled.20 Household sourced-separated inspected waste has a high market value21, due to there
being a routine demand to routinely supply bulk municipal waste as a routine basic need, enabling
investment in long term capital. In order to upcycle municipal waste, one way to secure the right
supply would be to weigh and inspect its content, and reward the disposer at the source.

The only inspection system capable of seeing what is inside a bag or scanned object is an security
cabinet x-ray system that is cheaper and emits much lower radiation than an medical x-ray scanner22.
The shielded cabinet23 is made of lead and thus prevents most of the x-ray radiation from escaping, in
addition to second metal wall of the recycling container. The use of baggage x-ray scanners in public
areas is safe and has been certified by EU bodies listed in the appendix24.

The cabinet x-ray

machine produces a
coloured x-ray image25
based on the atomic
number of the materials
scanned.
Separated household
waste, if accurately
separated in terms of
only plastic, metal, glass,
paper or organic should
display a single colour; if
3-10% other colours are
displayed in a separated
source scan, it would be transported internally to the mixed waste container for incineration, with a
potential penalty for the disposer.
It is the intend to use or to build an automated software that can match the image with pre-set
characteristics.

20
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52015DC0614 (COM/2015/0614)
21
regenerative source of raw materials. The value of the raw material will be obtained by disposers, consumers,
municipalities and businesses.
22
medical X-rays are considered more dangerous because of their longer exposure times
23
Cabinet X-ray Systems: Contain an X-ray tube installed within a shielded enclosure. The enclosure is made up of a
material, usually lead, that prevents most of the X-ray radiation from escaping the cabinet.
24
P
25
by radiating ions that generate backscattering x-rays.

11
 Detecting anomalies: metal beverage can, mixed with plastic bottles

12
Recycling container trademarked bags

In some EU countries, bags marked grey for recycling are more expensive than standard black bags.
The recycling container would function optimally if full bags with an approximate dimension of
approx. 70 cm L X 45cm W X 34 cm H were placed inside.
We intend to provide these standard size bags for free to actively participating households or at a low
cost per bag, we also intend to collaborate with local supermarkets to make the plastic bin bags
available.

Recycling container manufacturer

The manufacturer for the recycling container is based in the Netherlands, whom defines itself to be an
added value supplier and partner for businesses in the entire product lifecycle, operating in high
precision metal and mechatronic solutions. The manufacturer is a system supplier and integrator, from
draft to prototype, from project to series production, from onsite assembly to full maintenance. They
have built machines for ASML, automated post selection machines and the projects below:

13
When the funding is provided, the manufacturer will study the final submitted designs, make
improvements in the digital design, procure selected electronic components and can build various
versions of the recycling container for the pilot project.

Recycling container concept estimated manufacturing price

Order quantity Rough estimates manufacturer

price per unit, Euros
1 400,000
5 120,000
10 100,000
100 70,000
1000 50,000

14
 Financing the recycling container

Municipal ownership

One of the core municipal governance tasks, is the collection of municipal waste26, normally
municipalities own the bins and contract businesses to do the collection, further processing or regional
sorting. Governments and transnational governments set recycling rates and provide rewards,
subsidies or incentives for municipalities to attain those rates.

In some regions municipalities provide citizens access to underground disposal bins with an opening
card that charges households 9 Euros to dispose 30 bin bags27. Citizens might feel discouraged to
supply; non food contaminated28, cleaned, separated, household waste, due to the high charge and non
inspection of contents. Small levels of contamination on separate sources of municipal waste generate
lemons and require costly cleaning and sorting first before being able to be processed into new raw
materials.
Inspecting the contents at the source would certify the quality of material by meeting certain pollution
levels that processing centres have and would directly place value on the disposed contents, saving
considerable costs.


Private ownership

In the case that municipalities or national policies would want to shift ownership and handling of
municipal waste from public ownership to private ownership, municipalities could provide standard
installation license applications29 and make EPR reward schemes funds available to entrepreneurs,
local citizens and businesses.
There should a relatively high private investment demand to invest in recycling container as van
Rijn Waste shops, received an 90,000 Euros crowd investment30 within 8 days, to fund several
reserve vending storefronts that pay households for their sorted waste.

26
costs for disposal are charged to pay for collection services, investment in underground containers and to make use of
environmental stations.
Deze Afvalstoffenheffing gebruiken wij om de kosten te betalen van het ophalen van afval, het legen van de ondergrondse
containers, verbranden van afval en voor het gebruik van de milieustations.
http://www.afvalstoffendienst.nl/page/kosten
27
U betaalt voor de prepaidpas 9,00 voor 30 stortingen.
http://www.afvalstoffendienst.nl/page/kosten
28
In addition bio-waste should be collected separately to contribute to an increase in preparing for re- use and recycling rates
and the prevention of contamination of dry recyclable materials.
29
leveraging on a collection businesses logistics and fixed capital.
30
Waste Shops, borrow money at an 8 % interest rate for four years, next investment is in planning stage

15
 Recycling container return of investment

van Rijns crowd finance strategy shows there is a relative large crowd of investors interested in
financing a store front version of the recycling container. It has also been shown that municipalities
have committed their efforts at attaining targets by upgrading infrastructure through underground
containers31 and by building underground tunnels32. Whether private investors or municipalities will
invest in the proposed recycling container will depend on the rates of return for the investment.

Numerical concept analysis

In order to determine approximate returns on investment, herein is calculated approximate revenues

and costs for an recycling container. Official statistics show Individuals throws away between 135-
245 kilogram a year33, van Rijn waste shops however suggest this is around 40 k.g. but doesnt
include some contents or categories34.

In this example an example is used where 500 grams of municipal waste generated per person
everyday35. To provide an ungrounded intuitive example of numbered percentages for each material
category for recyclable packaged household waste, we will assume: 25 % plastic, 20% metal, 15%
paper, 15% food, 15% glass, 1% electronic waste and the rest consisting of larger and other content.
Based on approximate 200 kilograms municipal person, this would provide: 50 kilograms of plastic,
40 kilograms of metal, 30 kilograms of paper, 30 kilograms of plastic, 30 kilograms of food and 2
kilograms of electronic waste, totalling 182 k.g.

Van Rijn wil uitbreiden, en dat doet hij onder meer door de introductie van crowdfinance, een alternatief voor
crowdfunding. Hij heeft in acht dagen tijd bij vijftig investeerders 90.000 euro opgehaald die dit bedrag tegen een rente van
8 procent voor vier jaar aan hem lenen. Een volgende financieringsactie staat op stapel.
https://www.trouw.nl/home/afval-inleveren-is-geld-verdienen~afb6ade7/
31
Subject to Article 10(2), by 2015 separate collection shall be set up for at least the following: paper, metal, plastic and
glass. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1450190084649&uri=CELEX:02008L0098-20150731
32
http://www.stream-environment.com/how-does-stream-work
33
the amount of household residual waste is around 240 250 kilogram per habitant per year P11, Uitvoeringsprogramma
VANG - Huishoudelijk Afval
https://nos.nl/artikel/2128685-we-blijven-veel-voedsel-weggooien-135-kilo-per-persoon.html
34
De hoogbouwwijk kent op dit moment 2.700 'spaarders', die in vijftien maanden tijd samen zo'n 780.000 kilo afval
inleverden. Papier scoort het hoogst, gevolgd door plastic en textiel.
780,000 x 0.75 = 585,000 /2700 = 216 kilo
https://www.trouw.nl/home/afval-inleveren-is-geld-verdienen~afb6ade7/
35
De hoogbouwwijk kent op dit moment 2.700 'spaarders', die in vijftien maanden tijd samen zo'n 780.000 kilo afval
inleverden. Papier scoort het hoogst, gevolgd door plastic en textiel.
780,000 x 0.75 = 585,000 /2700 = 216 kilo
https://www.trouw.nl/home/afval-inleveren-is-geld-verdienen~afb6ade7/

16
 Each recycling container intends to target 250-2500 individuals who recycle their daily municipal
waste contents. Since there are no established EPR rewards for recycling organic household waste, we
intend to assume a municipal reward of 20 cents per kilo, due to the high portion of municipal organic
waste that can be economically composted. the recycling containers could potentially be owned by
market parties if the number of active participants were relatively large: - around a 1000 participants
per recycling container, actively recycling all contents, could provide a yearly gross return of 36,750
Euros signifying a fast return on investment. Initially it could be possible to reach a larger number
of users per recycling container if a niche of actively recycling sensitive persons can be attracted and
the recycling container can be established near supermarkets with easy car access. In the example
numbers model hereafter, an active user recycling all their waste can be rewarded around 18 Euros a
year, based on the current free market analysis.
It is also assumed in this model that municipalities will pay for the standard transport collection costs
and pay five cents per kilogram extra for increasing regional recycling rates, in addition to the
municipality paying the full national government provided Nedvang EPR rewards for recycling, to the
recycling container operator.

With municipalities owning the recycling containers they would pay for the collection and processing
costs therefore - reducing the 5 cents per kilogram reward fee. With a 1000 active participants using
the recycling container, the municipality would have a an gross financial return of around 24,150
Euros a year36, would contribute 36,770 Euros a year in resale value in terms of new raw materials
supply, receive 46,750 Euros a year in EPR reward from the national government and redistribute
15,820 Euros a year in income as a reward for its accurately sorting participants.

184 K.g. annual EPR reward Resale Municipal collection Reward Operational Profit per
waste disposal for value payment transport deposer cost disposed
per person municipality quantity
assumed
Plastic 75,6 cents -20 cents 25 cents 20 cents 20 cents 2 cent per 39 cents per
1 k.g., per K.g. sorting per k.g. per k.g. per k.g. k.g. k.g.
cost per
K.g.

50 k.g. 37.8 E y/pp -10E y/pp 12.5 E y/pp 10 E y/pp 10 E y/pp 1 E y/pp 19.5 E y/pp

36
50.82 Municipal payment - 38.22 collection cost= 12.6 E difference with the 5 cents (however this is re-
earned though increased output) profit 36.75= 24.15 E profit x 1000users = 24150 Euro

17
 (value 40
E y/pp)

Metal 1 k.g., 7 cents per 10 cents 25 cents 20 cents 7 cents per 2 cent per 16 cents per
k.g. per k.g. per k.g. per k.g. k.g. k.g. k.g.

40 k.g. 2.8 E y/pp 4 E y/pp 10 E y/pp 8 E y/pp 2.8 E y/pp 0.8 E y/pp 6.4 E y/pp

Paper 1 k.g., 5 cents per 5 cent 25 cents 20 cents 5 cents per 2 cents per 10 cents per
k.g. for paper resale per k.g. per k.g. k.g. k.g. k.g.
value per
1.05 E y/pp k.g.

40 cents per 1.05 E 7.5 E y/pp 6 E y/pp 1.05 E y/pp 0.6 E y/pp 21 k.g. - 2.1 E
k.g. for y/pp y/pp
drinking
cartons recycling 10 cents 15 cents per
cost per k.g. k.g.
(Estimate
d 15 cents
per k.g.)
(resale
value 10
cents)

30 k.g. 3.6 E y/pp -1.05 E 0.9 E y/pp 9 k.g. -

y/pp 1.35 E y/pp

(2 storage
containers
30% of paper
is drinking
cartons)

18
food waste 1 Unknown/0 Compost 45 cents 25 cents 3 cents per 2 cent per 16 cents per
k.g., unknown: per k.g. per k.g. k.g. k.g. k.g.
2 cents
per k.g.

30 k.g. 1.5 E y/pp 13.5 E y/pp 7.5 E y/pp 0.9 E y/pp 0.6 E y/pp 4.8 E y/pp

Glass waste 5 cents per 1 cent per 25 cents 20 cents 3 cents per 2 cents per 6 cents per k.g.
1k.g., kilogram kilogram per k.g. per k.g. k.g. k.g.

30 k.g. 1.5 E y/pp 0.3 E y/pp 6.6 E y/pp 6 E y/pp 0.9 E y/pp 0.6 E y/pp 1.8 E y/pp

Electronic Unknown / 0 Resale 25 cents 25 cents 5 cents per 2 cent per 9 cents per k.g.
1 k.g., unknown: per k.g. per k.g. k.g. k.g.
15 cents
per k.g.

2 k.g. 0.07 E 0.12 E y/pp 0.12 E 0.1 E y/pp 0.04 E y/pp 0.05 E y/pp
y/pp y/pp
Textiles Unknown / 0 Resale 20 cents 20 cents 5 cents per 2 cents per 23 cents per
1 k.g., unknown: per k.g. per k.g. k.g. k.g. k.g.
30 cents
per k.g.

3 k.g. 0.9 E y/pp 0.6 E y/pp 0.6 E y/pp 0.15 E y/pp 0.06 E y/pp 0.75 E y/pp

Total for 1 46.75 36.77 50.82 38.22 16.72 3.7 36.75

person Euros per Euros per Euros per Euros per Euros per Euros per Euros per
recycling all year year year year year year year
184 k.g.

19
 EPR Resale Municipal collection Reward Operation Profit per
rewards for value payment transport deposer al cost disposed
the quantity
municipality
Number of Profit per
people using transaction,
container per year/users
everyday
250 11,687.5 E 9,192.5E 12,705 E 9,555 E 3955 E 1000E 9,187.5 E

500 18,375 E

1000 36,750 E

1500 55,125 E

2500 116,875 E 91,925 E 127,050 E 95,550 E 39,500 E 10,000E 91,875 E

The numerical estimated analysis is dependent on how much individuals throw away, if this is not 184
kilos but only 50 kilos, the revenue would shrink equally. The recycling
container should be able to process a bag every 20 seconds, this would
enable it to process maximum 2880 bags during 12 hours in the day37.
With bag dimensions being: 70cm L x 45cm H x 34 cm W, a bag should
weigh between 2-8 kilos, taking 4 kilos as average this would be able to
11520 kilos a day38 or 4201 tons a year. Even tough 2500 active users
would only dispose a capacity of, 460 tons a year39.

Marketing

Whether the recycling is owned by municipalities or private businesses, the marketing and branding is
crucial to maintain a large number of active participants enabling the maintenance of a high return
on investment in the short term and in the long term.

37
night time it might not be made a lot of.
20 seconds a bag, is 4 times every one minute, 240 bags an hour times 12 hours is 2880 maximum.
38
4 kilos times 2880 bags processed would be 11520 kilos.
39
2500 active users throw away 184 kilos, equals 460,000 kilos or 460 tons

20
The right kind of marketing would inform disposers; what is made of their waste and where its
processed. Sourcing additional waste and collection from schools40, street cleaners, environmental
groups, local catering, offices and special financial rewards for at home collection.
Upon installation everyone living in the radius of 2-3 kilometres of the new recycling container will
be sent a brochure with information, recycling bags and an access card: with which they can open the
recycling container and on whom to accumulate financial rewards. Businesses in terms of restaurants,
offices and cafes will be provided with a business card, still receiving some reward from existing EPR
rewards.

Underground containers

Where space and construction allow it, existing underground containers could also be converted to
inspecting rewarding underground inspecting rewarding recycling containers.

Transport collection

The collections truck attachment mechanism to connect to full compartments in underground

container is the same for the above the ground recycling container. Therefore, in municipalities
where underground containers are situated and collected, those trucks could
also be used to collect contents from the recycling container.

40
Stimulating the youth to prevent waste and engage in separation of household waste P60, Uitvoeringsprogramma VANG
- Huishoudelijk Afval
advertise for younger ones to collect recyclables for pocket money or for responsible individuals in the neighbourhood to
collect and dispose.
challenging all citizens nearby to contribute to a cleaner environment and to earn some money
http://www.leeuwardernet.nl/18262/op-10-maart-zijn-plastic-flesjes-010-cent-waard/

21
It could also be that municipalities do not yet have underground
containers but are looking to invest in new bins and upgrading
collection trucks. Municipalities could work in joint ventures with the
collecting firm in the municipality to purchase the new truck whose
price range from 70,000 second hand41 to 200,000 new42.
A collection truck is usually also equipped with a presser and could
probably collect the contents of two to ten recycling containers in a
sequence depending on the compartment size, collecting up to 9 tons
per collection round. The recycling container can lift containers up to
9.7 meters high and carry approximate
for 2 tons for that height.
When collecting separate streams, there
would be no landfill or incineration gate
fee, however the contents may have to be transported to more distant
processing locations. The price for collection shouldnt be higher than
existing collection fees are, around 200 Euros per ton43, coming at lower
costs when the market scales44 and not considering processing fees.
The recycling collection businesses will be enabled to divert their collection flows to nearby
processing centres that are already registered by the municipality on Waste tool45 provided by
Nedvang.

Initial final recycling processing centre for the recycling container in the Netherlands

Treatment material Company Revenue/ cost per k.g. Circular product

Soft Plastics Suez 200-300 Euros per ton Redistributed to other
for separating recyclers for further
municipal plastics recycling

41
https://cleanmat.eu/stock/daf-fan-75-cf-250-euro-5-hiab-21-ton-meter-kran-6
https://cleanmat.eu/stock/volvo-fm-11-330-euro-6-hiab-21-ton-meter-kran
https://cleanmat.eu/stock/mercedes-benz-econic-2633-euro-5-hiab-21-ton-meter-kran
42
cleanmat.eu sales representative
43
based on the kg costs of 22 cent per kg for waste bin collections
http://www.barnarecycling.com/understanding-pay-by-weight-county-leitrim/
Charges are 154 per tonn with a minimum charge of 79 154/1000 kg =0.15 cents per k.g.
https://www.york.gov.uk/info/20090/commercial_waste/558/commercial_waste_disposal_sites
44
If many recycling containers were to be installed, there is also the option that the market develops a new collection service
that solely focuses on collecting and transporting contents where multiple different owners of recycling containers leverage
on the fixed transport infrastructure.
45
https://wastetool.nedvang.nl/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2F

22
 Metal Infra & Recycling 100 Euros per ton Exported to China by
Oldebroek sea container

Food waste In progress In progress In progress

Paper Infra & Recycling 50 Euros per ton Exported to China by
Oldebroek sea container
Glass Martha 10 Euros per ton Recycled back into
glass
Electronics Aureus-france.fr / Recycling electronics
for gold

Pilot project

The pilot projected is intended to be launched in one municipality where five to ten recycling
containers can be placed near supermarkets. It may be optimal to collaborate with the local collection
firm that already works with the municipality and can lease a
truck and driver for the duration of the one to two-year project.
Otherwise a collection truck can be leased and an operator hired
for the duration of the pilot project.

proof of concept

The pilot project will first research & develop certain automation solutions and overcome initial
learning costs. Once an economic proof of concept can be implemented, the recycling container will
be offered to other municipalities. The pilot project should develop:

- X-ray scan software, that determines material, anomalies and suitability of material
- Develop anti fraud systems
- Optimize sales to local processing final recycling centres technologies
- Optimize logistics transport

23
 - Select optimal collection truck and collection speed
- Optimize recycling container design and functioning
- Optimize component suppliers and manufacturing procedure
- Optimize maintenance costs
- Optimize licensing and funding procedures
- Investigate the number of disposers per location
- Investigate the height of reward needed for the disposer
- Develop automated software for national financial reward to the card holder

Steps to pilot project initiation

1. Select municipality willing to participate in initial pilot project

2. With the municipality, select suitable locations to implement five or ten recycling containers
3. Select recycling container truck lease or purchase or established collector firm
4. Prepare budget, final application and consortium
5. Submit final application to funding body46
6. If successful order recycling containers for manufacturing
7. Initiate digital x-ray testing prior to implementation
8. Implement recycling containers with x-ray inspection technology
9. Initiate pilot project marketing
10. Proof of concept and expansion to other municipalities

Work packages

Recycling container manufacturing

Budget:
Organization:

Installation cost
Budget:
Organization:

46
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI)
any legal entity may participate in a Fast Track to Innovation ("FTI") action. Actions funded under FTI shall be innovation
actions. ERC frontier research and FET (Future and Emerging Technologies)

24
Transition fund reward
Budget:
Organization:

Operational costs
Budget:
Organization:

Collection truck lease and staff

Budget:
Organization:

Software construction
Budget:
Organization:

The pilot project can be initiated when funding is provided by the national governments institute for
innovation, a municipal order, regional infrastructure investment47, EU Horizon 2020 subsidy
application or a private investment fund. With the initial funding, the first components and recycling
containers can be ordered and maintained by the specialized contractor manufacturer. The budget
should also encompass the costs of leasing or purchasing of the collection truck with personnel, the
R&D of the x-ray software the EPR rewarding budget for households.

The pilot project should determine if the drawbacks versus the benefits are worth it. The project will
investigate how the level of reward will affect number of active participants per recycling container, if
the number of users are low <250, the project is economically not worth proceeding with. If the
contents inspection system falters, there is no public support for the proposed mechanism, unforeseen
costs arise, the project could not be worth proceeding with.
If there are a large number of users per recycling container, the technology works well, there are low
logistics costs, returns are high, the inspection system is reliably automated, there is a lot of public
support and low economical production costs, then the project can be expanded to other
municipalities.

47
https://www.fi-compass.eu/esif/erdf

25
 Conclusion

The circular economy provides an alternative waste treatment to disposal methods such as
incineration and landfilling. Incineration pollutes the air and burns a valuable resource. Incineration is
only 65% efficient,48 in addition the incineration of residual waste costs around 15.6 cents per
kilogram49. Landfilling posses dangers to ground water and to the soil50 along with yearly public
landfill ownership and maintenance costs. Landfilling costs around 113E/tonne51, in the Netherlands
in 2015 2,34252 kilotons were landfilled thereby costing the private sector 264 Euros million
approximately every year while preventing circularity of resources and generating future
maintenance costs.

An alternative to landfilling and incineration is much demanded by the public and can be initiated by
setting up regulations to follow up on initiatives that enable higher recycling rates and circularity.
Alternative options for increasing household recycling rates can be achieved by more expensive
unhygienic heavy work manual labour or futuristic costly waste separation by robotics. By setting up
the infrastructure to inspecting accurately and by being able to reward recyclers for their obsolete
disposed content, only then can disposers be incentivized to separate waste properly.53

48
P3 potentially signifying that after burning 100% fuel energy only 65% of energy is left over. AEB Amsterdam has
suggested its 160% efficient, however this conflicts with other sources, if this were the case then it is strange processing
costs be around 150 Euros a ton. Experts should provide a clearer study of the efficiency when referring to 65% efficiency in
the following sources: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/framework/pdf/guidance.pdf
P5http://www.incovo.be/assets/475
49
50
https://www.aiginsurance.nl/content/dam/aig/emea/netherlands/documents/brochure/schadevoorbeelden-brochure.pdf
51
http://www.competitiveness.ie/Publications/2016/Costs-of-Doing-Business-Press-Release.pdf P3
52
https://www.google.es/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwionOGZtqnUAhVD6xQKHeIfCF
sQFggzMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rwsleefomgeving.nl%2Fpublish%2Fpages%2F116060%2Fafvalverwerking_in_
nederland_gegevens_2015.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHG8JsqqBfTcDnpv3IW5TxOPTq3vA&sig2=UcRBT0fw3T0VPMomatNegw
P8
53
https://www.trouw.nl/home/afval-inleveren-is-geld-verdienen~afb6ade7/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BOdmcVW9eU

26
In the municipal waste flow a large portion of waste consists of low-cost one-way product plastic
packaging54. At present less than 25% of collected plastic waste is recycled55, about 50% goes to
landfill and in Germany 60% of plastic waste is incinerated (2013)56.

Waste prevention should be the first priority of waste management57, and perceived as a valuable
resource from the start. It is important for the community as a whole to become self-sufficient in
waste disposal disposal installations and final recycling installations. European enterprises should
be guided technocratically to compete in the global market for eco-innovate final recycling
processing solutions, that can be duplicated across member states and exported overseas. Several pilot
projects for new plants are being carried out, such as melting plastics back to crude oil58 or converting
PET plastics waste back into virgin materials59. With a growing modernizing population, packaged
waste is going to keep increasing, signifying sorting and processing technologies will play a vital
future industrial and environmental role.

In order for the recycling container to maintain an informed loyal base it is necessary to advertise the
'best available technique for local processing in the nearest appropriate installation, by means of the
most appropriate methods and technologies. Where recycling containers are installed it could create
local geographical demand for regional services in specialized processing installations or enable
surrounding businesses to increase output in the final recycling industry, increasing the production
of recycled raw materials placed back onto the market.60

2013 the lack of stocks for creating recycled plastic is a global problem. In the UK particularly
there is a shortage of post consumer plastic to turn into recycled plastic for bottles because the
collection systems are so poor61 The chicken and egg problem with large complex recycling
facilities, is the supply of the contents and B2B resale markets are needed before long term
investments in final recycling processing centres can be made.

The municipality has the responsibility for the collection of household municipal waste62, and the
motivation of citizens, the creation of knowledge, facilities for waste separation, is an important task

54
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A52013DC0123 P5
it is a challenge to collect plastic packaging P33 Uitvoeringsprogramma VANG - Huishoudelijk Afval
55
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-15-6204_en.htm
56
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52013DC0123
57
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32008L0098
58
http://www.fuenix.com
59
http://www.ioniqa.com
60
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%2013097%202011%20INIT P4
61
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/29/stop-exporting-plastic-waste-to-china-to-boost-recycling-at-home-
say-experts
62
P7 Uitvoeringsprogramma VANG - Huishoudelijk Afval

27
for municipalities.63 The installation of recycling containers could increase output and profitability of
local final recycling processing centre or attract additional high employment processing businesses.
If private market entrepreneurs could bring the costs down and revenues up by developing new
innovative services64 for processing municipal waste.

63
P15 Uitvoeringsprogramma VANG - Huishoudelijk Afval
64
increasing the marketing, sourcing of materials, lowering transport costs, optimizing processing, web B2B markets for
trading recycled materials.

28