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21 Step Advance Recovery Fee and Deposit (ARFD) Workbook

Designing and implementing a successful, evidence-based ARFD is a multifaceted process, requiring the collection of data, undertaking meaningful stakeholder consultation, and acknowledging and incorporating differing views to make decisions to meet the specific local needs. It may feel like a daunting process. The 21-Step Pathway breaks the process down into logical, manageable steps.

This Workbook is designed to assist users through the completion of each of the 21 steps at a self-managed pace. Each step on the 21-Step Pathway is a chapter in the Workbook.

This Workbook can be used by anyone seeking to design an ARFD scheme to be set in legislation or regulation. It will be of value to by any individual or group involved in the design of an ARFD scheme, for example:

• Government representatives investigating the feasibility of an ARFD scheme or who have been tasked with developing a scheme
• A Working Group tasked with developing a scheme, or contributing to one or more steps of the 21-Step Pathway
• Private Sector or NGO representatives seeking to assist with the design of an ARFD scheme, or contributing to one or more steps of the 21-Step Pathway

The broad goals of an ARFD Scheme are to improve rates of recycling through the provision of an incentive for consumers to recycle (by providing an immediate financial reward (the refund of their “deposit”) when they drop eligible items at a depot), changing behaviour away from littering, burning, or disposing to landfill, and a self-sustainable funding source for governments/recyclers to undertake the collection, transport, processing, and export/recycling of recoverable materials (using the “fee” component which is calculated as the true cost of recycling each eligible item), providing an economically viable ability to undertake recycling/transfer activities long term, not reliant on variable government funds.

Waste Management Decision Support Tool

The Decision Support Tool is designed to guide decision-makers through a balanced high-level self-assessment of issues that will influence decision making. The DST poses a series of questions on Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legal and Economic (PESTLE) factors affecting the initiative in question. Each issue is scored whether the outcomes are positive or negative. The DST summarises responses and provides a graphical representation of the total forces for and against the initiative for each PESTLE category allowing for a quick and intuitive overview of relative benefits and weaknesses of the initiative.

Sustainable Financing for Waste Management Study Tour: 10 key elements that make a successful scheme

A short video to share findings from the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management Study Tour on 10 key elements that make a successful scheme. These elements may be useful for consideration as we design and build our schemes in the Pacific.

Webinar Report: Sustainable Financing for Waste Management

Report on an interactive webinar held on 28 June 2022, which presented opportunities for Pacific Island Countries to undertake peer-to-peer learning on the implementation or expansion of a Sustainable Financing for Waste Management scheme, and the launch of the Sustainable Financing for Waste Management in the Pacific community of practice on the Green Forum.

Step 1: Implementing an ARDF – Guidance on the 21 Step Pathway

Toolkit: ARD Guiding Documents: To assist countries to design their own effective ARFD schemes, an ARFD toolkit has been developed which is a series of 5 publications. Theses include:

1. Guidance on the 21 Step Pathway - Decisions and Actions Needed
2. ARFD Policy and Drafting Instructions,
3. Designing an ARFD Scheme - Key Questions Decision
4. Determining Scheme Partners – Roles and Responsibilities
5. Build it yourself- Guidance to Draft an ARFD Policy

Step 2: Determining Scheme Partners – Roles and Responsibilities

Toolkit: ARD Guiding Documents: To assist countries to design their own effective ARFD schemes, an ARFD toolkit has been developed which is a series of 5 publications. Theses include:

1. Guidance on the 21 Step Pathway - Decisions and Actions Needed
2. ARFD Policy and Drafting Instructions,
3. Designing an ARFD Scheme - Key Questions Decision
4. Determining Scheme Partners – Roles and Responsibilities
5. Build it yourself- Guidance to Draft an ARFD Policy

Step 3: Build it Yourself-Designing an ARFD Scheme – Key Questions and Decisions

Toolkit: ARD Guiding Documents: To assist countries to design their own effective ARFD schemes, an ARFD toolkit has been developed which is a series of 5 publications. Theses include:

1. Guidance on the 21 Step Pathway - Decisions and Actions Needed
2. ARFD Policy and Drafting Instructions,
3. Designing an ARFD Scheme - Key Questions Decision
4. Determining Scheme Partners – Roles and Responsibilities
5. Build it yourself- Guidance to Draft an ARFD Policy

Step 4: Example Table of Contents for ARFD Policy and Drafting Instructions

Toolkit: ARD Guiding Documents: To assist countries to design their own effective ARFD schemes, an ARFD toolkit has been developed which is a series of 5 publications. Theses include:

1. Guidance on the 21 Step Pathway - Decisions and Actions Needed
2. ARFD Policy and Drafting Instructions,
3. Designing an ARFD Scheme - Key Questions Decision
4. Determining Scheme Partners – Roles and Responsibilities
5. Build it yourself- Guidance to Draft an ARFD Policy

Step 5: Build it Yourself Guidance to Drafting ARFD Policy

Toolkit: ARD Guiding Documents: To assist countries to design their own effective ARFD schemes, an ARFD toolkit has been developed which is a series of 5 publications. Theses include:

1. Guidance on the 21 Step Pathway - Decisions and Actions Needed
2. ARFD Policy and Drafting Instructions,
3. Designing an ARFD Scheme - Key Questions Decision
4. Determining Scheme Partners – Roles and Responsibilities
5. Build it yourself- Guidance to Draft an ARFD Policy

Understanding Advance Recovery Fee and Deposit (ARFD) Scheme

A short video presentation to enhance understanding of what an Advance Recovery Fee and Deposit (ARFD) Scheme is.

Pathway for a Sustainable Financing Mechanism

The development of a sustainable financing mechanism to assist with funding the sound management of wastes is an opportunity for countries and territories to explore, especially given the current level of donor support on waste management.

The proposed pathway for sustainable financing mechanism outlines 21 priority steps around the topics of:
i) identification of the need for legislation
ii) research
iii) political will and support
iv) preliminary systems concept
v) feasibility study
vi) consultation
vii) confirmation of sustainable finance system design
viii) legal drafting
ix) implementation
x) monitoring, evaluation, and auditing.

It is envisaged that the Secretariat will assist Members to implement as well as coordinate this Pathway through the Cleaner Pacific 2025 and capitalising on current donor-funded projects such as the PacWastePlus programme, GEF ISLANDS, SWAP and JPRISM II as well as any new projects that would be mobilised as part of the proposed pathway