The EU Does Not Want Your Garbage
In the Futurama episode “A Big Piece of Garbage,” a giant ball of garbage from outer space heads straight for Earth, portending dire (and pungent) consequences. The garbage asteroid was originally ejected to space in the 21st century as a "brilliant" waste disposal solution, only to return with a vengeance one-thousand years later, when the series takes place. The only apparent solution for saving the planet is to hit the asteroid with an object of similar size and density to deflect it from Earth’s path: a second giant ball of garbage. There is, however, an ironic obstacle: in the 31st century, there is no concept of garbage. Thankfully, the series’ hero, Fry, is from the 20th century, and is able to teach everyone how to generate garbage.
Reporter warning viewers of the incoming Garbage Ball (Futurama©, FOX Broadcasting Company)
Amusingly, if not depressingly, the episode’s premise is not farfetched. The world currently produces enormous quantities of garbage that are often ill-managed; we may not have a garbage asteroid, but we do have the 7th Continent, a gigantic gyre of plastic debris in the North Pacific Ocean. On the bright side, the garbageless future of Futurama could also become a reality: enter the European Union’s (EU) impending Circular Economy Package.
The Circular Economy is an economic model in which materials are kept circulating in the economy for as long as possible. It stands in contrast to the predominant Linear model of production and consumption in which raw materials are extracted from the environment, utilized, and then disposed of. The Linear Model is based on the assumption that "resources are abundant, available, easy to source, and cheap to dispose of.” This is obviously a deeply mistaken assumption given rising resource scarcity, commodity price volatility, and waste disposal issues. In 2010, a total of 2.5 billion tons of waste were generated in the EU; while 36% was recycled, 600 million tons that could have been recycled or reused were landfilled or burned.
Illustration of the Circular Economy (Environmental Services Association)
The Circular Model makes logical sense; it solves the two issues of finding raw materials and disposing of waste. It rejoices environmentalists and sustainable development enthusiasts, as it decouples economic growth from resource extraction and environmental degradation. However, adopting the Circular Model necessitates a radical shift in the way we produce and consume, entailing a complete change in all elements of society and the economy.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, has taken on this ambitious task. Under the leadership of José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission until 2014, the Commission developed the policy package, “Towards a circular economy: A zero waste programme for Europe.” Proposed actions included support for research; the improvement of product design policy; the use of existing funding programs to advance the Circular Economy; the development of new guidelines; and the harmonization of measurements and calculations for various indicators, including resource efficiency and recycling. The most concrete policy proposals all centered around waste management and recycling, such as setting a minimum target of 70% reuse and recycling of municipal waste by 2030, banning the landfilling of recyclable materials by 2025, and eliminating landfills by 2030.
Though laudable, these measures, which focused on products' end-of-life stage, provoked criticism by businesses groups and environmentalists alike. A Green Member of European Parliament warned that the proposal’s priorities were misplaced and called for more waste prevention rather than focusing exclusively on recycling. BusinessEurope, an EU-wide employers group and business lobby, also disapproved of the Commission’s proposal, criticizing the target-based approach.
Unfortunately, like any piece of ambitious environmental legislation, the package was mired in controversy and challenges. In December 2014, the package was withdrawn by the latest European Commission lead by Jean-Claude Juncker, a move decried by Janez Potočnik, the previous Commissioner for the Environment, and architect of the package. It appears that the withdrawal was the result of pressure from BusinessEurope, which accused the package of being harmful to European competitiveness despite the forecast that the measures would boost the EU's economy by nearly 1%, in addition to creating two-million jobs.
Jean-Claude Juncker
There is hope left, as the European Commission promised that the withdrawn package would be replaced by a more ambitious and holistic one by the end of 2015. Critics of the first policy package are hoping to see more legislation on the reusability of materials and products, so that products are easier to repair and reuse, last longer, and integrate better with the Sharing Economy.
Even after passing these political hurdles, shifting to the Circular Economy would also require a strong change in the way we consume. It is not just about businesses changing their product design and resource use, or even of citizens recycling more. It is fundamentally about changing what we view as “new,” and recognizing that many materials can be used again and again without a loss in quality. Circular Economy policies are crucial for prompting an equally-needed change in social norms regarding reuse, repair, and recycling, and viewing virgin resources from the natural environment as the precious assets that they are.
Despite the challenge of overhauling the way economies are structured, it is encouraging that the world’s largest economic bloc is making an attempt to switch to a Circular Economy. All eyes should be on Brussels at the end of 2015, where a new policy package will hopefully be debated by the two legislative bodies of the EU and passed into binding law for all 28 Member States. This would initiate the first steps to a future with no waste, as illustrated in Futurama.
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Rebecca graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Sustainable Development. She loves how sustainable development brings together all sorts of different disciplines, and will happily have a long intellectual discussion about it anytime. As you might have guessed, Futurama is her favorite series. She is now back in Europe, her homeland, where she is working to make sustainable development a reality.
