Zero Waste Europe

Mirror, mirror on the wall, is polyethylene terephthalate the most circular of them all?

Plastic drinks bottles made from PET have been heralded as the most circular, but there are questions about whether this is really the case, and more needs to be done to ensure they are recycled in a closed-loop, writes Dorota Napierska.

Waste incineration: An extreme carbon outlier

Meeting the EU’s 10% landfill target is possible without climate damage, writes Janek Vähk.

How can EU members make good on new single-use plastics law?

The European Parliament and the Council gave their official green light to the Single-use Plastics Directive on Tuesday morning (21 May). Larissa Copello de Souza explains how the implementation period is a golden opportunity to raise the bar even further.

How the EU’s Cohesion Fund can support the circular economy

The EU’s next Cohesion Fund for regional development should prioritise investments into waste management systems focused on prevention, re-use, separate collection and recycling – not on incineration, argues Janek Vahk.

Renewables law could lock EU into costly burning technologies

The EU Council’s position on the recast Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), if adopted, could lock EU member states into expensive and polluting waste-to-energy technologies that contradict the circular economy and climate objectives, writes Janek Vahk.

Plastics Strategy: EU must heed example of best practices

Now that the European Commission has finally published its Plastics Strategy, the EU institutions should take inspiration from the best practices out there to make the upcoming legislation on single-use plastics work for citizens, the planet and the economy.