LIFE brochure: Innovative waste management options in Europe 23-11-2007 Waste management is an important issue that is central to EU environmental
policy. The objectives of EU waste policy are to reduce the negative impact of
waste on the environment and public health and to ensure the most efficient use
of resources, particularly natural resources. Towards these goals, it aims to
improve and strengthen measures to prevent the disposal of waste and promote its
re-use, recycling or recovery. The European Commission's Financial Instrument
for the Environment (LIFE) published the brochure: 'LIFE and waste recycling:
Innovative waste management options in Europe'. It illustrates methods and
technologies to treat waste in an optimal way to reduce risks to human health
and the environment.
'Innovative technologies that can deliver sizable environmental benefits can
have difficulties breaking into the market due to high entry barriers when
competing against established conventional technology', the LIFE Report states.
One of the main aims of LIFE is therefore to help overcome such barriers by
financing demonstration projects aimed at developing and testing innovative
solutions.
There have been waste policy successes, including increases in recycling and
reductions in dioxin emissions from municipal waste incinerators. However, the
greater increases in waste generation mean that the EU still has the challenge
of decoupling the use of resources and the generation of waste from the rate of
economic growth.
This brochure examines the contribution the LIFE programme has made to
promoting innovative waste management in Europe. It sets out the major European
waste legislation and provides information on a series of LIFE projects engaged
in innovative solutions to waste management through recovery, recycling or
re-use.
The LIFE brochure focuses on seven different forms of waste:
Source:
LIFE
Files back |


