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Reconciling Waste Management and Ecological Economics
Summary
Researchers examined how the concept of the "circular economy" — designing products and systems to minimize waste — fits within ecological economics, which emphasizes physical limits like energy and material flows. The chapter argues that effective waste management policies, such as landfill taxes, extended producer responsibility, and deposit-refund schemes, must align environmental costs with economic incentives to achieve meaningful sustainability gains.
Abstract This chapter provides a discussion of the concept of “circular economy” and how it conflicts with some of the systemic views coming from ecological economics: material and energy flows, thermodynamics and so on. The policy context in relation to waste management is presented, with focus on the European Union and on municipal solid waste. The chapter highlights the importance of separate collection, pointing to high-efficiency source separation models (such as door-to-door collection or pay-as-you-throw), as well as the importance of quality when dealing with biowaste to obtain high-quality compost, and with recyclables, to prevent downcycling. The chapter specially focuses on the relevance of aligning the environmental and the economic costs of the different waste management options. In this sense, it discusses several instruments such as landfill and incineration taxes, environmental taxes on certain products, extended producer responsibility, deposit-refund schemes, or fee-rebate schemes. The chapter concludes by identifying some areas in which ecological economics can help to understand how and why waste is generated, as well as informing the design of waste management policies.
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