Moving up! New study calls for sectoral waste prevention indicators to drive the Circular Economy

Published

27 Mar 2019

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[vc_custom_heading text=”Moving up! New study calls for sectoral
waste prevention indicators to drive
the Circular Economy” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:60|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1553593604733{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]Press Contact: Pierre Condamine, Waste Policy Officer, Zero Waste Europe

[email protected]

+32 (0) 2 73 62 091

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Brussels 27/03/2019

A new study commissioned by Zero Waste Europe identifies how to best measure waste prevention

and what are the most useful policies to minimise waste generation.

The waste hierarchy starts with prevention (1), yet most EU policies focus on recycling, recovery and disposal

rather than looking upstream where the potential for environmental and economic gains is the highest.

Among the study’s propositions, Zero Waste Europe calls for:

  1. Complementing the monitoring of waste generation with upstream indicators about the benefits related to savings from non-extracted resources
  2. Developing dedicated sectoral waste prevention indicators for the following 9 specific product groups:
  •    Food and beverages
  •    Large household appliances
  •    Small household appliances
  •    IT and telecommunications equipment
  •    Toys, leisure and sports equipment
  •    Electrical and electronic tools
  •    Textiles
  •    Motor vehicles
  •    Furniture and furnishing

For those 9 product groups, waste prevention has a substantial ecological, social and economic relevance

while showing high improvement potentials.

“A Circular Economy will require a substantial reduction in resources use and waste generation and

sectoral waste prevention indicators are the best way to set milestones to orient complementary policies

in the years to come” said Pierre Condamine, Waste Policy Officer at Zero Waste Europe.

Download the study

ENDS

  1. Art 3 of Directive (EU) 2008/98.