Consultation Session on ‘Mapping Hard to Recycle Plastic Items’

KSBL Circular Plastic Institute (CPI) recently hosted a consultation session on ‘Mapping Hard-to-Recycle plastic items in Pakistan and Identifying Underlying Factors and Key Drivers’. The event convened by Shiza Aslam (Research Fellow, KSBL) hosted panelists, experts, and participants from diverse backgrounds.The gathering included key players from plastic manufacturing, recycling, and waste industry, academic experts and business leaders.   

The consultation session was aimed at building a mutual consensus by focusing on hard-to-recycle plastics, while unanimously agreeing on a fixed definition. Experts at the session talked about technology, factors, drivers, and challenges associated with plastic that are often problematic and fail to generate value in the plastic recycling industry. Moreover, other issues such as behavioral change in consuming plastics, government actions and policy framework, waste collection and segregation practices, and the importance of community engagement, were also discussed.  

As part of KSBL’s initiative for supporting circular economy and working towards sustainability goals, this session looked into the challenges of plastic recyclability in Pakistan- especially, hard-to-recycle plastics. We will bring together stakeholders from diverse sectors to build consensus on the definition of ‘hard-to-recycle’ plastics. The session will also outline key challenges and recommendations, emphasizing the critical issues in the plastics and recycling industry that require immediate attention and intervention from institutions.