Single-use packaging is easy to spot. A short walk along a beach, anywhere in the world, will reveal the consequences of our throwaway culture as each tide brings in a fresh layer of debris, most of it single-use plastics. In some countries, the growing pressure to do something about single-use packaging has led to restrictions on the use of certain...

Anyone engaged in waste-reduction policy has surely witnessed the intense debate that has been raging for decades around the notion of burning municipal solid waste to create power. Active lobby groups around the world regularly campaign for additional incineration capacity, citing the importance of reducing waste to landfill and finding ways to turn some waste material into electricity or heat....

If I described to you a consumer product system that spurred green design, established a take-back channel, increased recycling, and was all paid for by the producers of products, would you call that extended producer responsibility? More than two decades ago, Thomas Lindhqvist, a Swedish professor of Environmental Economics, coined the term extended producer responsibility, or EPR. The goals of...

Last month’s decision by U.K. voters to withdraw from the European Union has generated a lot of questions over the potential impact on jobs, the economy and trade within the U.K. But for those in the U.K. waste management sector, the greatest concern is the potential impact of Brexit on both national and EU waste reduction policy. The issue is...

Since being introduced to the market, single-use beverage containers have caused much debate – both in the beverage industry and among politicians and the public. A simple question sits at the center of the arguing: What’s the most efficient way to collect beverage containers for high-quality recycling? Though there are many who continue to argue that these containers should be...

According to the European Commission, an estimated 100 billion plastic carrier bags are used in the European Union every year – an average of almost 200 bags per capita. Around 90 percent of these are lightweight bags (thinner than 0.05 millimeters), and most are used only once before being thrown away. An iconic symbol of our linear, throwaway economy, single-use...

Since the European Commission unveiled its Circular Economy (CE) package last December, there has been significant discussion around the proposed legislation. And perhaps the most vexed topic to date has been how best to calculate recycling rates in the EU and whether to include reuse activities in that determination. As discussed in last month’s column, EU member states can currently...

Over the last few years, the concept of a "circular economy" has gained increased momentum and attention, becoming a buzzword in policy and business circles in Europe and around the world. The latest development on the policymaking side of this conversation is the release of the European Commission’s Circular Economy Package, which outlines actions and legislative amendments intended to stimulate...