EU Moving towards Zero Waste Management Mechanism

In the process of urbanization development in most countries around the world today, with the significant increase in the consumption level of urban residents, the amount of urban waste (commonly known as garbage) is showing an astonishing growth trend. The various environmental problems generated by waste and waste disposal have become major challenges faced by major cities around the world.

The comprehensive management of urban environment, especially the effective treatment of urban waste, has always been a major concern in the development of green and low-carbon cities in the European Union.

Emphasizing environmental protection and achieving coordinated development among economy, society, and environment constitute the basic support for the social development model of European countries. European countries strictly regulate waste disposal, and their urban waste management capabilities have always been among the top in the world. With the continuous improvement of urban appearance and living environment, more and more European cities are now known as garden cities.

Since 2010, Europe has been conducting a green city evaluation, selecting a city that is environmentally friendly, ecological, green, and suitable for human life within Europe every year, becoming the "European Environmental Capital" of that year, in order to promote low-carbon and environmental protection construction in EU cities.

1, Continuously improving garbage management regulations and systems

As the birthplace of world industrial civilization, European countries have suffered from environmental degradation along with industrial civilization and technological progress. The urban waste management in the European Union started earlier and has now established a relatively complete urban waste management system.

In response to the problem of "garbage siege" or "garbage disaster", member states of the European Community began to formulate regulations as early as the 1970s to reduce the environmental problems caused by garbage.

In 1992, Europe established a unified large market, and member states of the European Community achieved the four major circulation of goods, personnel, capital, and services, promoting the level of urbanization development. The agglomeration of urban population also leads to an increase in waste volume, and as a result, the European Union has elevated its waste management system to a strategic level.

The European Community Waste Strategy was promulgated on July 30, 1996. The strategy was revised on December 21, 2005. This strategy has played a positive role in establishing citizen environmental awareness and guiding effective waste disposal.

At the same time, the EU is gradually improving its waste directive at the regulatory level. In 1998, the EU Waste Framework Directive was issued to replace Directive 442 of 1975 and Directive 156 of 1991.

This directive clarifies the basic concepts and definitions related to waste management, such as the meanings of waste, recycling, and recycling. The directive establishes the basic principles of waste management: waste disposal should first be based on the principle of not harming human life and causing environmental hazards, especially not having adverse effects on water quality, air, soil, and the living environment of animals and plants.

Other principles include the polluter pays principle and the extended producer responsibility principle. The directive also has special treatment regulations for hazardous waste and waste oil, aiming to achieve a recycling rate of 50% and 70% for household and construction waste by 2020, respectively.

In 2008, the European Union timely revised the 1998 version of the Waste Framework Directive, which covered the overall principles of waste classification, waste lists, and 15 hazardous characteristics that cause harm to waste. It also proposed for the first time the priority order of pyramid waste disposal, pointing out that landfill as a post-processing procedure is a treatment method that must only be adopted when recycling and recycling cannot be achieved under existing technological conditions.

In addition to the main regulation of the Waste Framework Directive, the EU has also formulated landfill and incineration laws, waste transportation regulations (2006), etc., and put forward specific rules for the disposal of waste oil, waste batteries, scrapped vehicles, waste packaging materials, etc. Basically, all classified waste in the Waste Framework Directive are subject to special legal provisions for their disposal.