EU Waste Regulation in a Linear-Circular Economy Transition: Waste Management in Italy

Description

Waste management is a topical issue worldwide. In recent years, several requests have been made by citizens and associations to political decision-makers regarding the need for a significant improvement in waste management methods. Particularly considering the significant increase in awareness of social and environmental impacts and the economic consequences of non-virtuous waste management.   There is growing attention on legislation and regulation's role in the waste sector. Regulation can help companies and citizens achieve a faster, more effective, and more efficient transition from a linear economy, based on the take-make-dispose paradigm, to a circular economy, in which the potential of waste as resources and secondary raw materials is exploited. This book is set in the wake of economic literature that tackles the transition from the linear to the circular economy. It focuses on the downstream stages of the waste management process (i.e. the waste treatment phase). In this regard, it is proposed a journey through the history of European waste legislation to study the waste sector's transition dynamics from a selfish and no longer sustainable economic model based on rampant consumerism to a far-sighted sustainable model addressing the well-being of future generations. Studying the changes in European waste regulations leads us to ask ourselves the following questions: how has waste collection changed in recent years? What are the new regulatory challenges that must be addressed to achieve the objectives of a circular economy? How successful has the EU legislation been in fostering the transition from a linear to a circular economy? Finally, has the European environmental legislation sprung a convergence process among European countries towards the circular economy, or has the definition of targets fuelled the already marked differences between EU countries? Foreword Reference Introduction Contents Part I: From Linear to Circular Economy: The Impact of Environmental Legislation on Waste Management Chapter 1: The Transition from Linear to Circular Economy: The Case of Waste in European and Italian Environmental Legislation 1.1 Introduction 1.2 From Linear to Circular Economy 1.3 European Waste Legislation 1.4 Italian Waste Legislation in the Past: The Transition of Waste from a Threat to a Resource 1.5 Italian Waste Legislation Today References Chapter 2: From European Legislation to Its Implementation in Italy Between Past and Present 2.1 The Evolution of European Waste Regulation 2.2 Environmental Regulations in Italy References Chapter 3: The Transition from Linear to Circular Economy Induced by Waste Management Legislation: A Shift-and-Share Analysis ... 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Stylised Facts 3.3 The Shift and Share Analysis 3.4 Data 3.5 Empirical Results 3.5.1 The European Case 3.5.2 The Italian Case 3.6 Conclusions Appendix Estimation of Missing Values of the Italian Macro-Areas References Part II: Convergence or Divergence from the Circular Economy Objectives: What Are the Causes? Chapter 4: The Integrated Waste Cycle in Italy and EU Countries 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Transition to the Circular Economy of Italy: Between Ups and Downs 4.3 Plant Shortcomings as a Brake on Sustainable Waste Management 4.4 Waste Management in Italy: What Went Wrong? References Chapter 5: Convergence or Divergence in Waste Treatment Methods? The Impact of Waste Management Legislation in the Transition ... 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Method: β-Convergence 5.3 β-Convergence: Results of the Analysis 5.4 Conclusions References Conclusions Reference