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<Municipal Solid Waste Management> Europe 2.3 Topic a: Waste reduction European governments, many of which come out of a social democratic political tradition, do not ordinarily question their direct and ultimate responsibility for public health, and thus for solid waste management. In the progressive countries and many other European Union (EU) nations, materials recovery and recycling have been accepted as a necessary and indeed essential aspect of government-sponsored integrated solid waste management systems. This is reflected in official policy documents at both the national and EU levels, and is widely evident in practice. Nevertheless, there are considerable variations in European practices in source reduction, materials recovery, and recycling. These variations occur in substantive approach, methods employed, degree of political and fiscal commitment, and the markets that are available. Collection of recyclables Unlike North America, European countries often have completely unrelated systems for collecting different recyclable materials. Paper is often collected curbside from row- or single-family houses, and in half- or one cubic meter collection containers from apartments. Paper, usually consisting of all grades of residential mixed paper and cardboard, is usually collected in compactor trucks. Glass collection, on the other hand, is more likely to be performed using closed recycling collection containers, sometimes called igloos. This system is reported to have been developed by the glass industry in the 1970s, in part as a public relations strategy to establish the environmental superiority of glass as a packaging material. Whatever its origin, enclosed drop-off systems play a critical role in high European levels of recovery. Igloos are usually placed so as to have small clusters of containers for different materials, including variously glass, plastics, and, rarely, paper or metal cans. The igloo-type containers are bottom-dumping, and are emptied by automated equipment into trucks. Northern European citizens generally use the containers as they are intended. Collection is performed by municipal governments, regional solid waste authorities, companies in the materials markets themselves, service companies, or NGOs or semi-public corporations with an environmental, human service, or charitable mission. NGO or service organizations may perform collection services under contract to the municipal government; or they may receive a fee per ton collected based on the avoided cost of disposal for the materials collected; generally they also get to keep some or all of the marketing revenues. Although some of these organizations must live from market income from the materials, their status as recognized elements of a public recycling infrastructure increasingly means that they receive government compensation in one form or another, often in the form of diversion credits. More intensive recycling collection efforts, particularly under aggressive recycling policy regimes in Germany and Denmark, began with attempts at wet-dry separation in the mid-1980s. These efforts have now progressed to separate collection of compostables on the one hand (formerly the "wet" fraction) and to separate collection of paper and recyclables on the other. Recyclables (occasionally but not commonly commingled) are usually set out either in 120-liter containers or 240-liter divided containers, sometimes called "duo-baks," and are collected in divided compactor trucks (see the overview on "Collection and transfer"). This allows for a single pass to collect two streams. These curbside collection programs often target paper, but seldom include glass. Under the influence of producer responsibility requirements, there are increasing experiments with commingled collection of drink boxes and plastic containers, sometimes compacted. The approach to processing these commingled materials is still under development. Perhaps because of the shared language, curbside collection programs set up on some variation of the North American commingled model are somewhat more common in the UK. Producer responsibility Perhaps the most unique aspect of Western European materials recovery is the widespread acceptance of the idea of "producer responsibility" for the environmentally sound disposal of packaging and products. Within the framework of this idea, Western European nations have crafted agreements and legal frameworks which give industry responsibility for achieving packaging reduction goals of 75% or more by 2002. Some countries, such as Austria and Germany, treat this as a mandate; others, like Britain and France, call their agreements voluntary but have stringent reporting and documentation requirements. The general structure of producer responsibility programs is to place financial responsibility for recycling and disposal on the product and/or package manufacturer, and to internalize incentives for recovery, reuse, and recycling through taxes, fees, and deposits. Most systems encourage industry to form one or more recycling corporations which guarantee a market for the collected materials. Some systems, like that in France, allow industry to make use of public sector waste management infrastructure, usually for a fee, with the goal of funneling private funds to build or enhance public recycling infrastructures. Industry has a high stake in the success of these programs, since various European governments have at times banned the use of specific types of packaging entirely. Because of this, objective reporting about their effectiveness is difficult to find. A complicating circumstance is the fact that many such programs have ambitious recovery goals that do not go fully into effect until 2000 or later. The highest profile of these producer responsibility efforts, the German DSD (Dualis) system, nearly failed financially in 1993, and ended up dumping large quantities of low-quality recyclables into the European (and Asian) secondary materials marketplace. It only survived through heavy government intervention, including the conversion of substantial debt (in the form of fees owed to municipalities for collection services and collected materials) into long-term loans owed to the local and regional governments by the recovery company. Other countries have instituted some level of producer responsibility that require the relevant industry to make a contract or ÒcovenantÓ with the environment ministry and to develop their own program for capturing their products. Even before full implementation, these requirements have been successful in stimulating waste reduction, in slowing the growth of packaging waste generation, and in general in causing substantial shifts in packaging policy and practice among certain industrial sectors, among them food retail, electronics, and appliances. The ultimate success of these, most of which do not fully take effect until 2000, is still open to question. Materials recovery in Southern and Eastern Europe In Southern and Eastern Europe (and also in France and the UK) the presence of recycling containers or collection programs is more sporadic. An exception is Italy, which has made considerable progress in materials recovery. Urban centers may have some igloo containers and may be developing residential recycling collection, but these are not widespread. Certain cities with a strong grassroots environmental constituency and/or progressive public officials have developed curbside collection of one or more materials. Depending in part on beverage or packaging industry price supports and buy-back programs, waste pickers may salvage and sell metals, paper, and other materials. When market prices are low, these informal collectors generally melt away, to return when prices are higher.
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