Waste Management and the Circular Economy

A Circular Economy refers to a model of production and consumption based on sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, and recycling existing materials for as long as possible. As climate change and environmental degradation becomes an increasingly existential threat to Europe and the world, moving towards a Circular Economy provides an opportunity to address the reduction of primary materials, protecting material resources and reducing our carbon footprint.

The management and recovery of waste plays an important role in establishing a Circular Economy. Such examples include end-of-waste criteria for certain waste streams, as well as safety and quality requirements for recycled materials; best techniques and best practices; and carrying out technical, economic, and environmental assessments of recycling processes, waste-to-energy options, and waste disposal operations.

The Circular Economy is predicted to bring economic benefits, including increases in gross domestic product, net material savings, employment growth, and reduced risk of material price volatility and supply. Business benefits may include higher competitiveness, resource security, and the creation of flexible and varied business models to enable value creation. International, national and regional administrations, including the European Commission, are developing Circular Economy policies and practices to bring benefits to the environment and wider society.

This collection highlights research on the waste-related aspects of the Circular Economy. Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• Efficiency of waste and recycling operations
• Maximising value from plastic recycling
• Technical potential of waste-to-energy
• Case studies of waste and recycling operations
• Management of extractive waste
• Recycling, reuse, regeneration and recovery of waste
• Recycling end-of-life vehicles
• Recovery and reuse from end-of-life buildings
• Risk assessments in waste management scenarios
• Investigations into the take up of Waste Management and Circular Economy principles and policies