[Draft 2] The Green Label Act

[Floofybit]

The Green Label Act

Category: Environmental

Industry: Manufacturing

This is my first resolution so please give me tons of feedback!

Update: I have decided to implement the draft suggested by Tinhampton as a current (and better) draft and have added one key part suggested by the delegate from the Forbidden Territories. I still would enjoy feedback on how to make the resolution better, especially feedback on the recently added piece (because it is a very rough draft), and how to implement more ideas into the draft. Does the new piece copy another resolution that I cannot directly find, and how should I work to make it more original to not be completely "stolen" from Tinhampton. Lol.

Current Idea:

Recognising that many products available in member states today are made from materials such as hard plastics, plastic film, glass, aluminium, paper, cardboard, and electronic components,

Understanding that individuals and businesses often do not know how to efficiently dispose of these materials and so may unassumingly leave them in landfills, which are both polluting and an unsafe location to dispose of (for example) battery cells, and

Seeking to build on the great advances made by GA#511 "Ensuring Effective Recycling" in effective waste disposal and education,

The General Assembly hereby:

1. Mandates that all products manufactured in or imported into member states (except for items intended to be ingested) contain a clear and readily accessible indication of how its owner may dispose of each part of that product after use in the most environmentally-friendly way possible, which may take the form of on-product labelling or an explanatory booklet, and
2. (I am not sure what to put here)

a. requires that a sign be placed at the entrance to all waste disposal sites in member states indicating what waste they accept, how they dispose of it, and where that waste they do not accept may be taken.
b. requires waste disposal sites to provide incentives, sponsored by the member state, to the disposed products’ owner for correctly dismantling and disposing the product.

Co-author: Tinhampton

First Draft:

The World Assembly,

Cognizant that the common practice of waste disposal is delivering waste products to landfills;

Aware of the ability for nations to recycle non-biodegradable materials to create unique products and decrease the size of landfills;

Appalled by the fact that many member states do not have indications of whether products can be recycled;

Fearful that landfills will increase in size due to excessive waste, and potentially harm the environment of the member state and envenom citizens’ posterity;

Hereby enacts the following,

1. In this resolution:
a. “Landfills” are defined as any place where waste is distributed in a contained area to naturally degrade over time.
b. “Waste” is defined as products which are no longer of use and are sent to landfills or recycling facilities.
c. A “waster” is defined as a biodegradable substance that may safely be distributed to landfills with little or no harm to the environment; a “composter” is defined as a plant-based product, including food, that can be chemically treated and recycled as fertilizer; and a “recycler” is defined as a product that is harmful to the environment in landfills, and can be recycled into a new product viable for daily usage.

2. Member States must:
a. Require manufacturing facilities to put indications on which parts of a product are wasters, composters, or recyclers, which include but are not limited to: tags, acronyms, stickers, pictures, etc. that are simple to read and understand. These companies must also provide manuals and documents on how to separate, clean, and dispose of the product.
b. Provide incentives to company owners and/or workers who add these indications on their products for one year after this proposal has been put into action, or for three months after the company has complied with this proposal, whichever ends last.
c. Educate students about the differences between a waster, composter, and recycler in the student’s prime education facility where arithmetic and language is taught. If the student wishes to opt out of any class at the previous stated facility, students are still required to learn the differences.
d. Place indications at areas where waste products are disposed that specify what the disposal facility accepts, and where waste products can be taken if the disposal facility does not accept them.
e. Promote research into scientific facilities to discern ways to recycle unconventional products to reduce waste delivered to landfills.

Current thoughts?

[Tinhampton]

Alexander Smith, Tinhamptonian Delegate-Ambassador to the World Assembly: It is regrettable that this proposal appears to promote the idea of landfills being a first resort for waste disposal, deploys confusing terminology that is unfamiliar to the Tinhamptonian waste disposal sector, and uses twenty words to carry out what could be done by ten. I would, for example, suggest something along the lines of the following:

Recognising that many products available in member states today are made from materials such as hard plastics, plastic film, glass, aluminium, paper, cardboard, and electronic components,

Understanding that individuals and businesses often do not know how to efficiently dispose of these materials and so may unassumingly leave them in landfills, which are both polluting and an unsafe location to dispose of (for example) battery cells, and

Seeking to build on the great advances made by GA#511 "Ensuring Effective Recycling" in effective waste disposal and education,

The General Assembly hereby:

1. mandates that all products manufactured in or imported into member states (except for items intended to be ingested) contain a clear and readily accessible indication of how its owner may dispose of each part of that product after use in the most environmentally-friendly way possible, which may take the form of on-product labelling or an explanatory booklet, and
2. requires that a sign be placed at the entrance to all waste disposal sites in member states indicating what waste they accept, how they dispose of it, and where that waste they do not accept may be taken.

Co-author: Tinhampton

[Floofybit]

I really enjoy this feedback, and thank you for finding the proposal I was indefinitely duplicating. I think this proposal works very well but I just have a few questions. For products that are intended to be ingested, do you think it is necessary to put a label on whether or not it can be composted if the food molds or is not eaten? Obviously, this wouldn't need to occur on produce, but foods that are sold with a package.


Speaking of packages, it seems that the shortened proposal speaks more on the side of the product, and while it may have been faulty in my original proposal, do you think labels would be necessary for the packaging too? Or it this covered elsewhere in a different proposal?

Thanks so much!

[Tinhampton]

The ingestion exemption was meant to be a kind of "you don't have to put these labels on food" - but yes, putting them on food packaging would be a good idea. and packaging in general, that probably counts as a product

[Makko Oko]

The Ministry Of Diplomatic Affairs can respect this resolution and what it is aiming to achieve, however, we've noticed a lack of foundations as to how and who will establish what falls under the defined definitions, and no procedures are mentioned for a product that could fall under multiple definitions.

[Forbidden Territories]

The Green Label Act

Category: Environmental

Industry: Manufacturing

This is my first resolution so please give me tons of feedback!

The World Assembly,

Cognizant that the common practice of waste disposal is delivering waste products to landfills;

Aware of the ability for nations to recycle non-biodegradable materials to create unique products and decrease the size of landfills;

Appalled by the fact that many member states do not have indications of whether products can be recycled;

Fearful that landfills will increase in size due to excessive waste, and potentially harm the environment of the member state and envenom citizens’ posterity;

Hereby enacts the following,

1. In this resolution:
a. “Landfills” are defined as any place where waste is distributed in a contained area to naturally degrade over time.
b. “Waste” is defined as products which are no longer of use and are sent to landfills or recycling facilities.
c. A “waster” is defined as a biodegradable substance that may safely be distributed to landfills with little or no harm to the environment; a “composter” is defined as a plant-based product, including food, that can be chemically treated and recycled as fertilizer; and a “recycler” is defined as a product that is harmful to the environment in landfills, and can be recycled into a new product viable for daily usage.

2. Member States must:
a. Require manufacturing facilities to put indications on which parts of a product are wasters, composters, or recyclers, which include but are not limited to: tags, acronyms, stickers, pictures, etc. that are simple to read and understand. These companies must also provide manuals and documents on how to separate, clean, and dispose of the product.
b. Provide incentives to company owners and/or workers who add these indications on their products for one year after this proposal has been put into action, or for three months after the company has complied with this proposal, whichever ends last.
c. Educate students about the differences between a waster, composter, and recycler in the student’s prime education facility where arithmetic and language is taught. If the student wishes to opt out of any class at the previous stated facility, students are still required to learn the differences.
d. Place indications at areas where waste products are disposed that specify what the disposal facility accepts, and where waste products can be taken if the disposal facility does not accept them.
e. Promote research into scientific facilities to discern ways to recycle unconventional products to reduce waste delivered to landfills.

Mark Robert, Chief Delegate of FTS : I fear that while these objectives seem good on paper. At the end of the day, it is in the hands of the consumer to dispose these waste properly unless done by a Sorting Association which will sort the parts of product into respective categories. Unless we give incentive to consumer, this would not work on a large scale.
Another major cause of landfills increasing due to factories illegally disposing waste in landfill which this proposal does not address.

[Floofybit]

/bump

[Tinhampton]

I'd argue that your two halves of Article 2 would probably do better as two separate articles, like so:

The General Assembly hereby:

1. Mandates that all products manufactured in or imported into member states (except for items intended to be ingested) contain a clear and readily accessible indication of how its owner may dispose of each part of that product after use in the most environmentally-friendly way possible, which may take the form of on-product labelling or an explanatory booklet,
2. Requires that a sign be placed at the entrance to all waste disposal sites in member states indicating what waste they accept, how they dispose of it, and where that waste they do not accept may be taken, and
3. Mandates that member states work with waste disposal sites to incentivise owners of waste to correctly dismantle and dispose of that waste.

Remember to preface each of your list paragraphs with "[*]" instead of numbers; it'll look funny otherwise. Witness:

Code: Select all

The General Assembly hereby:
[list=1][*]Mandates that all products manufactured in or imported into member states (except for items intended to be ingested) contain a clear and readily accessible indication of how its owner may dispose of each part of that product after use in the most environmentally-friendly way possible, which may take the form of on-product labelling or an explanatory booklet,
[*]Requires that a sign be placed at the entrance to all waste disposal sites in member states indicating what waste they accept, how they dispose of it, and where that waste they do not accept may be taken, and
[*]Mandates that member states work with waste disposal sites to incentivise owners of waste to correctly dismantle and dispose of that waste.[/list]

[West Barack and East Obama]

Dr Justin Obama, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs: As an authoritarian state, West Barack and East Obama do not see much utility in incentives, much less mandating member nations to sponsor incentives whether anyone wants them or not. Personally, I say we threaten those who are wasteful with fines, or maybe even a good flogging.

Ms Josephine Obiden, Vice President: Thanks Dr Obama but I think I'll take it from here. I do agree with everything... except maybe mandating corporal punishment. Maybe you could make it such that it is only an encouragement to support waste disposal sites. Then we will find this proposal satisfactory.