Waste management law and policy: global trends and European Union experience
Waste accumulation around the world is turning into a global environmental problem. One way to deal with the environmental problem is to provide for effective laws and policies in the field of waste management at the international, regional, and local levels. But what makes an “effective” waste management law and policy? This article, firstly, reviews the current global trends, which lead to the increasing waste accumulation around the world (e. g. population growth, urbanization, contemporary production and consumption practices). Secondly, the article discusses global political objectives and targets on waste management. At the international level, countries target, among others, to substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse by 2030. The waste management law and policy, which promote industrial waste processing, turn waste into a resource, and do not support landfilling and/or incineration of waste, may be considered as contributing to the global target and, thus, effective. Thirdly, the article reviews the European Union (EU) law and policy on waste management, highlighting and studying such concepts as “circular economy”, “bioeconomy” and “waste hierarchy”. Also, the article looks at the EU Green Deal plan as at the political commitment to consider new EU legislation on waste by 2050 (including on separate waste collection, exporting waste outside of the EU, illegal waste exports, etc.). Finally, the article suggests, that further investigation into global trends and recognized effective laws and policies on waste management may be useful for a decision making process when altering a national legal system on waste management.