Readme file: IRS-CESC metadata Principal Investigator: Jacqueline E. Rutkowski, D.Sc. Eng., Economic Division, Leeds University Business School, Leeds/UK, jacqueline.rutkowski@gmail.com;j.e.rtukowski@leeds.ac.uk Keywords: Waste Picker; Extended Producer Responsibility; Plastic recycling; Circular Economy; Sustainable Integrated Waste Management; Packaging; Inclusive Recycling Data collected and/or organized under the project “IRS-CESC - The Role of the Informal Recycling Sector on Closing the Loops to Sustainable Cities” which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 792855. Language: English and Portuguese IRS-CESC research: The research aimed to address the question of how the informal recycling sector (IRS) should be invited to work with, and not against, formal waste management (WM) to achieve integrated and sustainable waste management (ISWM) in low and middle medium income countries (LIMMC) and to make cities more sustainable and inclusive. The focus of the research was the extended responsibility of the packaging producer (P-EPR). Packaging are responsible for 20 to 50% of municipal waste worldwide, so defining sustainable solutions for packaging waste is significant to help address the rising cost of waste management and other issues, such as for example, different types of contamination associated with municipal waste. EPR schemes, an environmental policy based on the polluter-pays principle, have been implemented in many countries to address these problems. A comparative case study was developed. The Brazilian experience in P-EPR (BR P-EPR), which was implemented considering waste pickers (WP) as a pivotal player in the scheme, is investigated using the EU's experience in P-EPR (EU P-EPR), the first and the most consolidated experience in the world, as the benchmark. Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined to discuss how the two models could learn from each other to improve the Circular Economy (EC) in cities and to offer solutions to recent concerns in dealing with plastic waste worldwide. Data were collected from different sources to describe and analyse the cases studied through document analysis and systematic literature review (Grant & Booth 2009), participant observation and semi-structured interviews with key informants (Flick 2004), in addition to some action-research interventions (Thiollent 2011), developed by the author since 2008 in partnership with the Brazilian WP. The data collected for the research can be aggregated into two different groups, as described below. The methods used to collect and analyse this data are described in the following sections and the forms of accessibility to each one are also summarized. The research was submitted and receive a favourable ethical opinion registered under number LTLUBS-255 at ESSL, Environment and LUBS (AREA) Faculty Research Ethics Committee at the University of Leeds/UK on 07 February 2019. Data 1:EU P-EPR Description: Information on Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Waste (P-EPR) deployed in the European Member States (EU MS) to gather what was known about the schemes, origins, context and main recommendations for practice; main results, strengths and weaknesses in its application and what was uncertainty around findings. Data 1 consists of 5(five) different archives as listed below. Files, Sources, Collection methods: a) IRS-CESC Literature Review.enl (Reference Data): Presents a list of scientific articles and theses available at electronic scientific libraries, and gray literature - laws, professional and government reports and factsheets, recently published on professional and institutional websites for the discussion on the EU Circular Economy approach that resulted in amendments to the EU Directives for Packaging and Waste Management. Searches were carried out on Google Scholars and on the CAPES Portal, a platform managed by the Brazilian government to support research that allows access 45 different libraries in the world, such as SCOPUS, Web of Science, Latindex, and to thousands of Journals worldwide. Document analysis and literature review (Grant &Booth 2009) are carried out, highlighting the main information about the EU P-EPR schemes.Quantitative results related to recycling of packaging in EU MS were gathered at EUROSTAT (2019). b) Packaging EPR_Final.xls (Compiled Data): Records of systematic literature review process done in 2019. The abstracts of 214 entries from literature review were analysed, resulting in 47 articles, reports and theses read in a full and summarized to complement the knowledge on specific subjects, such as positive / negative impacts of P-EPR, costs and cost-benefit ratio of the schems, design for the environment uses and references to the informal recycling sector activities. “Producer responsibility” AND “packaging”, “Packaging producer responsibility” AND “Design for the environment”, “cost” AND “Producer responsibility” were used in the systematic literature review for answering specific questions. c) Packaging_Waste_Forum.pdf (Observational and Reference Data):Copy of some presentations and registers of discussions carried out at professional conferences, seminars, and lectures organized in 2019 to discuss waste recycling and related topics, such as how EU directives on packaging and waste, and Circular Economy approach would impact the EU P-EPR.Participant observation and semi-structured interviews with key informants (Flick 2004) were made during the events and registered in field notes. d) Austria_ISWA Study-Tour_2019.pdf, and e) Report-TechVisit_Serbia_NMacedonia.pdf (Observational Data):Field observation (Flick 2004) were made by technical visits to recycling facilities done in 2019 in the EU to observe on the spot how P-EPR is put into practice and for a deeper understanding of packaging recycling processes in Europe, from a practical, operational and commercial perspective. These visits were made during study trips to European countries where the P-EPR is considered to be well implemented, as Austria as well as to countries where the IRS action is registered (Serbia and North Macedonia). In the latter, we sought to understand the functioning of the informal sector and its relationship with the P-EPR scheme.The main findings and information on recycling model in Austria and IRS in EU countries are registered. Data 2:BR P-EPR Description:Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Waste scheme deployed in Brazil (BR P-EPR), analysis about how IRS operates in Brazil and its impacts on the BR P-EPR results and achievements. Data 2 consists of 3(three) different archives and 2 (two) related resources, as described. Files, Sources, Collection methods: a)IRS-CESC Literature Review_IRS.enl(Reference Data):List and copies of scientific papers and grey literature analysing and describing several experiences of Waste Pickers'(WP) inclusion implemented on waste management and P-EPR schemes in Brazil.Document analysis and literature review (Grant &Booth 2009) were made for highlighting the main information about the BR P-EPR scheme as well as other experiences of organization and inclusion of WP in the waste management service and waste recycling chain in Brazil. "Informal recycling sector" AND "Packaging," Waste pickers "and" Packaging "AND" Producer Responsibility" were the keywords used to complement knowledge about the informal recycling sector and packaging recycling in Brazil and different countries around the world. b)BR-WP-Leaders_interview.pdf (Observational Data):Data captured from interviews carried out in 2019 with 3 key-informants to gather their opinions about the main results and challenges in the BR P-EPR scheme, for cross-checking information and conclusions on the diagnosis.Semi-structured interviews (Flick 2004) were recorded with the explicit consent of the participants and transcribed later, considering the ethics concerns and procedures presented to and approved by the University of Leeds' Ethics Committee (Ref.LTLUBS-255). Data collected during interviews was used on the results on a processed form, without quotation. c)Reciclar_pelo_Brasil_2019.pdf(Compiled Data):Presents a summary of data available on a database organized by the National Association of Brazilian Waste Pickers (WP) (ANCAT) to compose a measure of WP participation in the index of packaging recycling in Brazil. The databank registers the annual productivity and other managerial and business data from a group of 277 Brazilian Waste Pickers cooperatives (WP co-ops), that have been collaborating and being supported in the Brazilian P-EPR Agreement. The data was analysed by statistical and graphic methods using Excel software.The ANCAT database is available on http://recicla.eco.br/Ancat/ with access under authorization. Cooperation Agreement N.001 / 2018 between ANCAT representatives and the researcher granted authorization to access the data for the purposes of the research by a previously authorized password. Data were treated considering the ethics concerns and procedures presented to and approved by the University of Leeds' Ethics Committee (Ref.LTLUBS-255). Related resources (Observational Data): Several action-research interventions (Thiollent 2011; Koshy et al 2010) have been being made, since 2008, by the researcher and and her partners of ORIS- Observatory of Inclusive and Solidarity Recycling (Rutkowski et all 2017) in partnership with Brazilian Waste Pickers(WP), to answering several technical and scientific questions that have been arisen by WP from their activities in the waste recycling chain. Primary data collected on these different participatory activities and researches are published in Rutkowski, 2008 and Rutkowski& Rutkowski 2015; Rutkowski& Rutkowski 2017. References: EUROSTAT (2019) Packaging waste by waste management operations and waste flow. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/ENV_WASPAC FLICK,U. (2004) Uma introdução à Pesquisa Qualitativa. Porto Alegre: Bookman, 2004. Grant, M.J. & Booth,A. (2009) A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information and Libraries Journal,26, pp.91–108. DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x Koshy, E.; Koshy, V.; Waterman H. What Is Action Research? In: Action Research in Healthcare. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446288696.n1.https://sk.sagepub.com/books/action-research-in-healthcare/n1.xml Rutkowski, J.E and Rutkowski, E.W. (2017) Recycling in Brasil: Paper and Plastic Supply Chain. Resources 2017, 6, 43; doi:10.3390/resources6030043. 2017. Rutkowski, J.E. & Rutkowski E.W. (2015) Expanding worldwide urban solid waste recycling: The Brazilian social technology in waste pickers inclusion. Waste Management & Research 33(12):1084-93. DOI: 10.1177/0734242X15607424. Rutkowski, J. E. (2008) Sustainability of Solidarity Economic Enterprises: an approach in Production Engineering. Thesis (DSc in Production Engineering). COPPE, Rio de Janeiro/ RJ: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2008. 239f. (In Portuguese). Rutkowski, E.W.; Rutkowski, J.E; Lima, F.P.A; Oliveira,F.G.; Silva, L.H.; Silva, L.M. (2017) Brazilian Observatory for Inclusive and Solidary Recycling. ATHENS 2017 5th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management Athens, 21–24 June 2017 Thiollent, M. (2011). Action Research and Participatory Research: An Overview. International Journal of Action Research, 7(2), 160-174. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-414079