About the Project
Addressing the escalating plastic crisis in five countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia
In May 2024, a coalition of environmental organizations, including HEJSupport (International), AWHHE (Armenia), RUZGAR (Azerbaijan), Ecovision (Georgia), CSD (Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan), and CSA (Ukraine), launched a joint project entitled “Outreach and awareness-raising on prevention, minimization, and recycling options for plastic waste in countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia with the goal to reduce plastic pollution and minimize its impact on the environment and human health”. The project exemplifies our collective commitment to tackling the plastic crisis across five countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia (EECCA).
The Plastic Waste Partnership under the Basel Convention supported the project to mobilize civil society, governments, and other stakeholders in the targeted countries to minimize plastic waste generation, promote environmentally sound plastic management, and contribute to sustainable plastic-free alternatives.
Olga Speranskaya and Alexandra Caterbow, HEJSupport Co-Directors, present the project “Outreach and awareness-raising on prevention, minimization, and recycling options for plastic waste in countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia with the goal to reduce plastic pollution and minimize its impact on the environment and human health”.
Welcome to our joint project on addressing the escalating plastic crisis in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia!
Plastic pollution is a global crisis that impacts people’s health and the environment. Our project aims to tackle this issue in the five countries of the EECCA region. We focus on reducing plastic production, eliminating hazardous chemicals in plastics, and advocating for robust regulations at national, regional, and international levels.
Our efforts include:
- Advocating for the right to know about toxic chemicals in plastic materials and products
- Supporting robust legislation to reduce plastic production and plastic pollution
- Promoting a ban on single-use plastic and plastic containing toxic chemicals
- Highlighting the link between plastic exposure and health
- Promoting plastic- and toxic-free products.
- Supporting toxic-free recycling of plastic waste
Plastic physical and chemical pollution pose significant threats to our environment and public health. Our project is dedicated to tackling these challenges in the EECCA region by promoting sustainable practices and advocating for comprehensive regulatory frameworks and enforcement. We believe that by reducing plastic production, eliminating hazardous substances, and supporting innovative recycling methods, we can create a safer, healthier future for all.
We are committed to raising awareness about the impact of plastics on our communities and the environment. Together, we can drive meaningful change and build a world free from plastic pollution and toxic chemicals. Join us in this vital mission!
The project’s overarching goal is to significantly and lastingly impact plastic pollution in the targeted countries. By reducing and preventing plastic waste, particularly single-use plastic, we aim to inspire hope and optimism for a cleaner, healthier future. The project’s objectives are to raise awareness and empower key stakeholders, including the public, to develop, assess, and implement feasible solutions to address the plastic crisis and contribute to a toxic-free circular economy.
The project focuses on five countries in EECCA: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. All targeted countries have a low level of post-consumer plastic waste recycling. This is primarily due to the disorganized separate waste collection system, low awareness of the dangers of plastic waste, and lack of necessary recycling facilities. Some target countries have adopted regulations to control the production and use of single-use plastics, including shopping bags, food containers, and disposable plastic cutlery. However, these initiatives are in the early stages of development and are poorly enforced.
Awareness of toxic plastic additives is limited in the target countries. Consequently, the current recycling facilities do not differentiate between non-toxic and contaminated plastic waste. For instance, recent data reveal the presence of toxic brominated flame retardants, the UV stabilizer UV-326, and bisphenol A in pellets made from recycled high-density polyethylene intended for use in new products, sourced from 24 recycling facilities across 23 countries, including those in the EECCA region (link).
Since 2018, representatives of EECCA NGOs focused on sound chemicals and waste management have adopted annual statements to tackle plastic issues in the region. They urge their governments to ensure the implementation of extended producer responsibility to enhance the environmental performance of plastic products throughout their lifecycle, support initiatives to ban single-use plastics, continuously expand the list of banned single-use plastics, and guarantee regular monitoring of toxic plastic additives in recycled plastic pellets.
Key activities of the project include:
1. Data Collection and Information Sharing
1.1. Develop national inventories of the primary sources of plastic pollution, including plastic waste generation, import and export with a view to informing governments, the private sector and civil society on ways to prevent and reduce plastic waste;
1.2. Develop a report based on the assessment of the availability of sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics in the target countries to encourage their use;
1.3. Prepare information document on the content of toxic additives in plastics to serve a clean non-toxic circular economy, based on publicly available data and information;
1.4. Based on interviews with manufacturers, prepare analysis of prospects for reducing plastic pollution in the target countries.
2. Development and dissemination of information material among stakeholders in the target countries
2.1. Based on collected data and information in activity 1, prepare information materials on plastic packaging, single-use plastic products, toxic additives, safer alternatives for further dissemination
2.2. Develop an online course (e.g. plastic packaging, single-use plastic products, toxic additives, safer alternatives) with the goal to promote the prevention and reduction of plastic waste as a step towards a toxic-free circular economy.
2.3. Develop a project clearinghouse website for information sharing
2.4. Disseminate the information materials via clearing house, social media, stakeholders, project partners channels, media.
3. Conduct a capacity-building and awareness-raising campaign in the region on reuse, recycling, recyclability and/or disposal options for plastic waste in the target countries of the region
3.1. Conduct national webinars for different stakeholder groups
3.2. Webinar for media representatives, press conferences and media outreach, including social media
3.3. Preparing a joint statement in the form of recommendations (NGO demands) for policy makers, consumers, and industry on key areas of reducing plastic pollution to contribute to the development of ambitious plastic waste regulation and plastic waste minimization in the region