Beyond recycling: upstream circular strategies for Amsterdam’s canal plastics

Addressing plastic pollution in urban waterways requires moving beyond end-of-pipe solutions toward systemic, preventive interventions at the source. This deliverable explores how the circular economy "R-ladder" framework can be contextualized specifically for plastic waste to evaluate existing initiatives in Amsterdam, identify governance and market gaps, and inform policy. By cross-referencing circularity strategies against empirical data from six months of monitoring in Amsterdam’s canals, the study analyzes intervention coverage across the five most abundant waterborne items: food wrappers, soft fragments, cigarette filters, and foam fragments.

The findings reveal an imbalanced landscape. Existing public and private initiatives heavily favor downstream strategies like Recycle and Rethink, while upstream strategies (Refuse, Reduce, Replace) remain underdeveloped, particularly for soft plastics and foam. Most importantly, the research demonstrates that high-grade recycling is an unfeasible primary strategy for waterborne plastics. Plastic retrieved from canals is severely degraded by UV radiation and water exposure, highly fragmented, and contaminated with organic matter, rendering processing economically and technically unviable. Consequently, the report highlights the necessity of shifting municipal focus away from post-consumer recycling narratives toward binding upstream policy shifts, biobased material substitutions, and targeted reuse models to stop plastic from entering urban water systems altogether.

The full report is available to read here, starting with the executive abstract followed by the complete research deck. Please note that a statement aimed at shifting the narrative around waterborne plastic recycling is currently in development.

For any questions or further insights, please feel free to reach out at any time to project manager Francesca Alberti at francesca.alberti@ams-institute.org.