Although waste management in the European Union (EU) has improved considerably in the past decades, almost a third of municipal waste is still landfilled and less than half is recycled or composted, with wide variations between Member States. The European Union has proposed a number of long-term targets for landfilling and recycling, as part of the new Circular Economy. By 2030, no more than 10% of municipal waste should go to landfill in the EU. In addition to this binding target, the new laws would include a total ban on the landfilling of waste which has already been separated and sorted for recycling. The recycling and re-use of municipal waste must reach 65% in Europe by 2030, with a target of 75% set for the recycling of packaging waste. Specific targets for resource efficiency, plastics and food waste were left out, however the EU reiterated its pledge to meet the global Sustainable Development Goal of halving food waste by 2030. The targets require a large shift in EU waste management, where currently only around 40% of municipal waste is recycled, and 30% landfilled. A number of supporting measures were therefore announced, to advance the circular economy in each step of the value chain - from production to consumption, repair and remanufacturing, waste management, and secondary raw materials that are fed back into the economy.
I think it is possible for multiple reasons. One is that avoiding landfilling in favour of material and energy recovery is as relatively cheap easy to cut emissions of CO2. Another is energy security where Europe can decrease it's dependence on fossil fuels including natural gas from Russia. A third is the transformation of transport. Either we go for biogas or electric Europe needs to increase its share of renewables. The obstacles are mainly the willingness to source separate, which is needed in combination with mechanical sorting to achieve high quality, and willingness to pay; increased costs for waste management is however by far compensated for by cost savings in other sectors.
Dr. Zorpas, you have already done so much for the improvement. I think it is inevitable to have committed people on board.
The main reason is the recycling is not economical in that high proportion. From a point, costs are exponentially growing. Recycling started before any target was set and focused on the valuable components. Regulations will never be so efficient than the clear economic interests and competition.
The other issue is the set goals are only the first step and the feasibility and what make sense known better and better during the implementation. Let's forget the economics for a while and focus on the environmental effects. An artificially high recycling goal could result in larger negative environmental impact (e.g. long distance transportation of waste components or more energy need for recycling than using virgin material).
Back to the economics, badly uneconomical solutions question the environmental usefulness, since the money could be used otherwise for protecting the environment (e.g. support research or renewable energy).
Put it in a nutshell, best practices and the legal and economic environment in well-performing countries should be studied and understood to support less successful countries to improve their performance.
We should develop the environmentalist type of Hippocratic oath "do not implement environmental measures just for the sake of better environmental KPIs, do not cause harm to the environment by improving only a selected area of development."
My answer to the question (Can we really boost recycling economy in EU member states ...?) is straight NO if the question targets scholars of Europe & the rest of the world.
Scholars can give professional advice to governments but those in authority may not follow the advice promptly or keep on with the policy of postponing until shocking consequences start to appear.
Many times, I saw in Europe & in the Middle East countries "including ours" sending lot of used papers into waste dumps. Recycling papers is not that difficult & if the papers are re-used, this will result in less cutting of trees due to the drop of demand.
When IT is applied efficiently at universities, there will be very little need for paper work (e.g. many exams can be done online, corrected at the spot, and sent to the registration offices within minutes).
The example cited above was meant to indicate that those who hold responsibilities can stop wasteful practices & move those below to strict abiding by this common sense, IF THEY WISH.
Dear Antonis A Zorpas,
The recycling can be promoted by highlighting its various environmental and economic benefits in simplistic terms. Various researchers have used various economic models to describe the revenue generated by waste recycling. Technically, setting up recycling facility don't require very high tech instruments.
For further reading, following are few of my research group papers on this topic.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303524450_Developing_waste_biorefinery_in_Makkah_A_way_forward_to_convert_urban_waste_into_renewable_energy
Article Waste-to-energy and recycling value for developing integrate...
Conference Paper The Environmental and Economic Value of Waste Recycling in Makkah
With regards,
Nizami
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