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Articles related to "Towards a recycling society"
Interview
Waste expert: Recycled products 'faced with the REACH regulation'
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16 November 2012
Although the REACH law on chemicals does not cover waste as such, it does affect recycled products which rely on secondary raw materials extracted from waste. At the end of the day, recycling companies might find it difficult to comply, holding back the EU's drive to consume less raw materials, says Wobbe van der Meulen.
Packaging boss: 'Paper for recycling is short in Europe'
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23 May 2012
Demand for recycled paper is so strong in Asian countries that corrugated board manufacturers are finding it hard to get sufficient supply, Roberto Villaquiran said in an interview with EurActiv.
Campaigner: Commission 'too passive' on waste, recycling
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21 May 2012
The European Commission needs to take the implementation of recycling laws more seriously, says green campaigner and waste policy expert Stéphane Arditi in an interview with EurActiv.
News
REACH chemicals law hampers EU recycling goals
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16 November 2012
SPECIAL REPORT / The REACH chemical safety regulation is creating headaches for recycled products manufacturers, hampering the European Union's efforts to decrease its reliance on imported raw materials. The European Commission has only begun acknowledging the problem, saying it will take time to address.
EU countries failing on 2020 waste target
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02 April 2012
Europeans dump the bulk of their rubbish in landfills and many EU countries appear to be falling well short of 2020 targets for recycling municipal waste, new data from the EU statistical agency show.
Lawmaker proposes 'Schengen area for waste', recycling
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23 February 2012
Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, a Dutch Liberal MEP who is drafting a resolution on resource-efficiency for the European Parliament, proposes a ‘Schengen area’ for waste that would allow all sorts of second-hand resources to be traded more freely between member states.
Steelmakers struggle to expand recycling rates
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13 October 2011
European steelmakers warn they have reached the limits of how much recycled metal can feed their mills as competition for scrap is driving exports to emerging Asian economies. EurActiv reports from ArcelorMittal's factory in Ghent, Belgium.
Central Europe plays catch up on steel recycling
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11 October 2011
Central Europe's relatively low rates of recycling represent an untapped potential with easy gains, said participants at a Steel Packaging Summit in Košice. EurActiv Slovakia reports.
‘Dirty trade' challenges EU vision of recycling society
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11 October 2011
While the EU seeks to curb its import dependency on raw materials through better re-use and recycling, the bloc remains a top exporter of all sorts of waste – including paper, plastics and metals.
UK authorities 'failing' companies that want to recycle
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10 October 2011
Local authorities across the UK are failing companies that want to recycle more of their rubbish by not giving small businesses access to their recycling facilities, and forcing them to go through more expensive private contractors, according to the manufacturers' trade body.
EU's green economy roadmap meets criticism
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10 October 2011
The European Commission's roadmap for a resource-efficient Europe does too little to address environmental concerns, argue green campaigners while businesses have criticised it for ignoring the benefits eco-industries bring to the environment.
Commission tables plan for a resource-efficient economy
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21 September 2011
The European Commission unveiled plans yesterday (20 September) to decouple the EU's economic growth from natural resource consumption, suggesting that the bloc's 27 governments sign up to a myriad of short- and long-term environmental targets by the end of 2013.
Commission aims to slash plastic bag use
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19 May 2011
The European Commission is considering a tax or a ban on plastic bags as it seeks the public's views on how to reduce their use and fight pollution.
Europe urged to take global lead on recycling
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02 March 2011
The risk of a raw materials supply shortage should be seen as an opportunity to boost research into substitution and recycling technologies to reduce Europe's import dependency. EurActiv spoke with leading businesses and NGOs on how to create a competitive recycling market.
Fertilisers, plastics polluting world waters: UN
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23 February 2011
Massive amounts of phosphorus, a fertiliser widely used in agriculture, and billions of pieces of plastic are poisoning the global marine environment, said the UN, calling for better management of global waste.
Waste and recycling: EU can do better
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20 January 2011
Despite a marked improvement in some countries, new statistics show that waste keeps piling up in most EU member states, suggesting that further effort is required for the bloc to become a "recycling society" that avoids waste and uses it as a resource.
EU institute tables resource-efficiency indicators
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24 August 2010
The European Commission's in-house research facility, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), has developed new product lifecycle indicators to assess the progress of the EU-27 towards achieving a greener economy.
Belgium to push 'sustainable materials' initiative
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09 July 2010
The Belgian EU Presidency wants to clean up industrial processes in Europe by promoting a "cradle-to-cradle" approach to resource management in the manufacturing sector, EurActiv has learned.
'Guilt card' to force green behaviour on consumers?
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04 June 2010
With the world's natural resources depleting fast, the European Union and the United Nations are considering imposing limits on the consumption of anything from meat to air travel, plastics and fossil fuels in order to stop waste and pollution.
Denmark tops EU 'rubbish' league
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22 March 2010
The volume of municipal waste generated by Europeans varied a lot in 2008 - from 306 kg in the Czech Republic to 802 kg in Denmark - but the overall trend is clearly upwards, reveals a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
New agency to enforce EU waste laws
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01 February 2010
A specific EU body could be set up to carry out controls and inspections in member states to enforce compliance of national waste laws with EU legislation, argues a European Commission study published yesterday (1 February).
World forum calls for natural resource tax
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15 September 2009
To combat soaring consumption of natural resources, the World Resources Forum (WRF) is calling for a global strategy to frame a new economic model that would directly tax raw materials instead of products and labour.
Steel recycling on the rise
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07 September 2009
Over a third of global steel production now comes from recycled scrap material, but recycling rates vary a lot across the globe, according to a report by the WorldWatch Institute.
German industry warns of 'raw materials gap'
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26 August 2009
Germany faces a commodity supply gap partly because trade distortions promoted exports of raw materials from Europe such as scrap metal, the association of German industry BDI said yesterday (26 August).
Commission eyes tighter enforcement of EU waste law
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17 July 2009
The European Commission does not have enough resources to properly enforce the implementation of the EU's Landfill Directive and related infringement cases against member states have very little effect, regretted an official at the EU executive, suggesting that the establishment of an EU waste implementation agency would remedy the situation.
Opinion
Resource efficiency: different sectors need different maps?
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27 October 2011
The European Commission should consider sectoral approaches to its resource-efficiency roadmap as different waste streams like paper or metal follow different supply pathways, argues Jori Ringman-Beck, from the European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC).
Resource-efficiency: Europe can set a global example
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10 October 2011
The European Commission's roadmap for a resource-efficient Europe proposes a decent way forward to transform the Union into a sustainable economy, writes Bas de Leeuw from the World Resources Forum.
LinksDossier
Towards a global life-cycle economy?
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11 December 2009
Assessing the environmental impact of products throughout their whole lifecycle - from raw material extraction to transport, consumption and final disposal - is being touted as the new mantra in environmental policymaking and sustainable business decision-making.