Page 54 - European Energy Innovation - Spring 2017 publication

54 Spring 2017 European Energy Innovation

MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

Circular Economy
Finding the Right Balance

By Vanya Veras, Secretary General, Municipal Waste Europe

It is common knowledge that
the world’s developed countries
consume the greatest quantity
of materials, fuels and products,
also contributing the most to global
warming; Europe is one such group of
countries. What is less known is that we,
in the European Union, import three
times more products than we export
and that that represents six times
more raw materials than we export.
Where does it all go? Either directly or
indirectly, into our waste.

Creating a circular economy is all
about averting the exit of materials
and products from the production and
use cycle by creating systems to either
prevent them from entering the waste
stream through direct reuse or by
recovering them from the waste stream.
The developed West has learned to
be a throw-away society in the last 25
years and citizens young and old still
believe that their individual efforts as
consumers and recyclers don’t have
an impact. To turn back to respect for
value, longevity and resource efficiency
we need reliable waste management
systems and communication. The
citizen must be recognised as being
an integral part of this transformation;
included and informed.

Municipalities play a pivotal role in
all of this. They are responsible for
providing services of general interest
and as such, are the link between
the citizen and consumer, change
in purchasing behaviour and the
recovery system for products and
materials that become waste. European

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