Food waste has become an increasingly hot topic in recent months and for good reason. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about one-third of all food produced in the world for human consumption – approximately 1.3 billion metric tons – ends up as waste each year.
Single-use plastics are everywhere, with most of us regularly relying on the convenience of products such as plastic bags, straws, utensils, takeaway coffee cups, food packaging and water bottles.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.