Proceedings of the Untangled symposium: - WSPA

Annex 2Priority problems and solutionsProblem 4: Bottle caps and rings that end up in themarine environment can potentially cause digestionproblems when swallowed by animals, as well asresulting in death and toxin transfer further up thefood chain.Solution 1: ‘(Coca Cola) Cap Challenge’ – for everycap collected, industry would donate $X, so that fiftyper cent of the funds goes to the school for educationalor sporting supplies and fifty per cent goes to aninternational NGO for marine animal welfare.• Target stakeholders: industry, educators and students• Motivation (of targets): a fun and global collectioncompetition to increase recycling; caps could becomea ‘cool’ collectable item for kids; possible to makethis viral, using social media, idea of competition viaschool/community/country tallies or a competitionto use caps creatively – geographical mapping usingonline tools; CSR appeals to industry, a way to getindustry name in schools; some similar programmesalready exist (proven to be popular, potential partners)• Challenges: dependent on the appropriate corporatesupport; some kind of infrastructure will need to bein place to recycle the caps so need alignment withexisting operations or need to invest in new ones;some similar programmes already exist (not novel);demonstrating the scale of the animal welfare impact ofthese items is difficult (i.e. requires data demonstratingconsumption of caps by animals)• Time frame: consideration would be around initial smallscale pilot project then roll out globallySolution 3: ‘Keep Caps On’ – build upon North AmericanTrade Association efforts to strongly encourage recyclingfacilities to accept and adopt technology to properlyrecycle caps with bottles, so that consumers can placeboth in the recycling bins, and so reduce the amount ofbottle caps littered.• Target stakeholders: recycling companies• Motivation (of targets): NATA project already beingimplemented – industry is recognising that caps needto be recycled; can cut top off bottle and ring quicklyand easily with new technology; caps are one of themost highly littered items• Challenges: value of plastic caps is not as high asthe bottle.Solution 4: Extended producer responsibilityprogramme: building on the UNEP/NOAA HonoluluStrategy, governments could regulate industry to pay forthe collection of litter products, change design of theseproducts, or improve the existing bottle bill legislation toinclude caps, so that less are littered.• Target stakeholders: governments and other policymakers; industry• Challenges: requires companies to pay a fee for thecollection of their material and improved recyclingefforts – may not be popular with industry so theymay try and block it; not all areas will implement thiskind of regulation.Solution 2: ‘Corporate Coastline’ – Corporationswould sponsor or adopt beaches/sections of coastlineglobally so that they take pride in and responsibility forthem, engaging their staff to work with local communitiesto keep the area clean and free of bottle caps (and otherdebris, e.g. nets).20