Mark Ernst,
Janne de Hoop
To reach a closed loop in 2065 for the waste streams two pathways are designed. These pathways both start at the current situation an strive for a closed loop system in 2065. Keeping all the materials on the island. To make people, in this case the people on Texel (both inhabitants as tourists), go into a transition an incentive needs to be created. The steps in a pathway, milestones, lead them step by step towards a sustainable future. The first pathway is based on legislative and regulative incentives and the second pathway is based on communicative incentives. For both pathways different milestones are set to work towards the goal for 2065. For both pathways the general road is applicable. There are three stages going on at Texel from now until 2065: Reduce - Recycle - Re-use.
Regulative Pathway
This pathway will start with stimulating the people to separate their waste properly. The idea is that if they first get rewarded in some way by doing it properly, in the end it will become natural for them. So in a way the municipality teaches them behaviour that is beneficial for the system. The result of their actions is shown afterwards, because it can only be seen in the long run if they separate their waste properly. In the end they will see what products can be created with fully separated and recycled or re-used waste.
In the image attached the complete pathway can be seen including the milestones
Regulative milestones
All the milestones of the regulative pathway are based on a cooperative system. Regulative might sound like a top down approach where the municipality the key player, but in fact only the initiative for giving the incentive lies at the municipality. The citizens of Texel are actually the lead players in this shift, without them the system will not work. The transition has to be gradually to make it accepted. The regulations therefore have to be dosed in a way that the people and companies will go along.
Milestone 1: Waste of companies is also collected.
At this moment, the municipality does not collect waste from companies. Collecting this and facilitating the separation of waste by companies will already help to mitigate the problem. The waste of companies is a big part of the total waste on Texel. With companies also the restaurants, hotels and other tourist profiting companies are taken into account.
Milestone 2: Household waste decrease and separation incentives.
Household waste is currently collected but not separated. To give an incentive to have the citizens of Texel put effort in this, a game set up will be developed in which small communities or streets will compete against each other. The most succesfull community/street will be rewarded. To enable this, the waste collection system needs to weigh the waste that is disposed per community/street. By working with such a system, people will take responsibility more about what happens in their community and will help and communicate about this with their fellow citizens.
Milestone 3: Companies get rewarded for less waste.
With the same system that is needed for the waste collection weighing system of the household waste, company waste can also be registered. Companies will in the end only pay for the residual waste they have. Therefore it will be profitable to separate the waste completely.
Milestone 4: Recycled materials-only used in products sold on the island.
This is a long-term milestone that is very complicated to implement. Since the waste generation problem will be mitigated by the separation and decrease incentives, it is important to also look at the earlier stages of the supply chain. Creating incentives for companies to only sell product created from recycled materials - and preferable recyclable on the island only - will create a enormous step towards a closed loop system on the island. To create an incentive for using environmental friendly materials taxes should be set on environmental unfriendly materials.
Milestone 5: Decrease packages
A big part of waste in general is packaging. Packaging of food and also packaging of clothes etc. both small on a individual basis as on a large scale for companies. To encourage people to use less packages there will be a grant for package-less stores. Like happening at this moment with plastic bags a fee will also be asked for packages.
Milestone 6: Stop collecting residual waste
By this time the people should be used to separating their waste completely. The final incentive would be that the residual waste will not even be collected, so if you don't separate you have to deal with it yourself.
Milestone 7: Not allowed to import materials on individual level
You are not allowed to bring products to the island that cannot be used on the island. The import will be checked at the entrance by boat. This will both count for the inhabitants of Texel as well as the tourists visiting the island.
Milestone 8: not allowed to sell products from the mainland
Next to the individual ban on materials from the mainland the companies will also not be allowed to use products from the island. If the materials sold are not available on the island and needed an exception can be made. This will count for construction materials and only if they don't damage the island in any way. It will not be possible to sell clothes or children's toys created in Asia for example.
Communicative Pathway
This pathway will start with showing people what can be done with the waste. In a way this is about education people about the consequences of what they do. The incentive for separating waste will come from the experiences they have when learning more about their waste.
Communicative Milestones
In the communicative pathway we want to create more awareness amongst the citizens of Texel about optimizing their end-of-life products and waste. The milestones are created to generate awareness and action amongst the citizens, entrepeneurs and tourists of Texel. It is important that all the people at Texel feel the need and join the movement.
Milestone 1: Awareness campaign on what you can do with your waste
To create an incentive for separating waste it should be clear to the people what the consequences are of separating the waste. If the goal is not clear to the people, they might see no reason to do so and therefore not do it. The campaign might already attract people who know what to do with the waste.
Milestone 2: Sustainable Texel co-creation events
To get the local people involved co-creation events will be hosted. A design competition will be part of this where people can show their ideas about what to create with waste.
Milestone 3: Make room for new businesses
To be able to make a business about the co-creation events and the ideas people have it should be easy for people to start a business out of it. An incubator especially for businesses dealing with waste have to be created. These initiatives should be visible and accessible to the people of Texel. The idea is that these businesses can also inspire others and show how it can be done while making profit.
Milestone 4: Follow your waste
To stimulate people again to separate their waste it will be shown where their exact waste goes to. To enable this a registration system should be made where the kind of waste is recognised and followed to a new life.
Milestone 5: Education in public space
To emphasize the projects going on it is important to spread the word, not only to the inhabitants of Texel but also to the tourists visiting the island. Educating can be done at the location of public bins and in public buildings. The example will have to be set by the municipality to inspire others. Tourist will be forced to behave like the inhabitants while they are on the island and get inspired to apply it at home as well.
Milestone 6: Pressure on companies by community
Because the inhabitants want to separate their waste as much as possible they do not want to buy products that make it hard to do so. By buying only biological products or recyclable packages the companies will be forced to sell different products. Such a movement can be emphasised by an organisation that stimulates the inhabitants to take action, such as a ngo.
Milestone 7: Automated waste system
In the end it new technologies will ease the system. By having a smart system that recognises the kind of waste you have it can be registered easily. The kind of company in need for such a material can be alarmed and will collect the materials. Information can be given on the destiny of the waste and an insight is created in the amount of materials available for reuse.