8 May, 2011 | Publication
Prof David C Wilson has published a paper with Rachel Cahill, one of his former students, and Prof Sue Grimes, on Extended producer responsibility for packaging wastes and WEEE – a comparison of implementation and the role of local authorities across Europe. The paper was published as a review article in the May 2011 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Waste Management & Research.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is one of the most important policy tools available in waste management, which in principle transfers the responsibility and costs of managing post-consumer product waste back from the local authorities to the ‘producer’ or supply-chain which provided the original product. However, despite common EU Directives covering EPR for packaging waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), among other waste streams, implementation has varied markedly between Member States. This paper compares a representative sample of eleven EU countries based on five indicators: stakeholders and responsibilities; compliance mechanisms; role of local authorities; financing mechanisms and merits and limitations, with four countries selected for more detailed case study analysis. Similarities, trends and differences in national systems are highlighted with particular focus on the role of local authorities and their relationship with obligated producers and the effect on the operation and success of each system.
On the whole, EPR for packaging and WEEE has been successfully implemented throughout Europe in terms of Directive targets. It is, however, clear that the EPR systems currently in application across Europe differ primarily due to contrasting opinion on the legitimacy of local authorities as stakeholders and, in some cases, a fear on the part of industry of associated costs. Where local authorities have been engaged in the design and implementation of national systems, existing infrastructure used and defined roles established for producers and local authorities, results have been significantly more positive than in the cases where local authorities have had limited engagement.
8 November, 2008 | Publication
One of DCW’s research interests at Imperial College is the contribution made to waste management in developing country cities by the often large informal recycling sector. This paper focuses on quantifying the contribution of the informal sector, and particularly that of the itinerant waste buyers who collect clean, source separated materials from door to door; and on how to build further on this solid foundation. The paper is published in the February 2009 volume of the journal Waste Management, and is available online.
Many developing country cities aspire to modern waste management systems, which are associated with relatively high recycling rates of clean, source separated materials. Most already have informal sector recycling systems, which are driven solely by the revenues derived from selling recovered materials, even though they are saving the formal sector money by reducing waste quantities. There is clear potential for ‘win-win’ co-operation between the formal and informal sectors, as providing support to the informal sector, to build recycling rates and to address some of the social issues could reduce the overall costs of waste management for the formal sector. This paper shows that recycling rates already achieved by the informal sector can be quite high, typically in the range from 20-50%; often up to half of this is in the form of clean, source separated materials collected directly from households and businesses by itinerant waste buyers (IWBs). Four country case studies provide a number of lessons on how this solid foundation could be used to build high recycling rates of clean materials. DCW’s co-authors are Dr Chris Cheeseman, also in the Centre for Environmental Control and Waste Management at Imperial; former MSc student Kaine Chinwah; and Adebisi Araba, his PhD student in the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial. The paper reference is doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2008.06.016; Waste Management, Volume 29, Issue 2, February 2009, pages 629-635.
8 October, 2007 | Publication
DCW was co-author of four papers at this week’s 20th anniversary Sardinia 2007, the Eleventh International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium. Three of the paper’s are a result of DCW’s research at Imperial College.
- DCW was lead author of a paper on Building recycling rates through the informal sector in developing countries.
- One of DCW’s former students, Nina Zetsche, presented on The clean development mechanism: incentive improving solid waste management in developing countries?
- Another former student, Costas Velis, presented on Early 19thcentury London dust-yards: a case study in closed loop resource efficiency.
- Molly Morgan presented a Defra paper on Science policy for sustainable waste and resources management: putting principles into practice.
8 June, 2007 | Publication, Waste Management
The June issue of the ISWA journal Waste Management & Research (WM&R) is a special issue on Driving waste management towards sustainable development. DCW wrote the keynote paper on ‘Development drivers for waste management’.
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This explores how drivers have varied over time, and how they vary today across the world (Waste Manage Res 2007, 25 (3), 198-207). DCW also co-authored a paper on ‘Using research-based knowledge to underpin waste and resources policy’ (Waste Manage Res 2007, 25 (3), 247-256), which examines the theory and practice of ‘evidence-based policy making’ in the waste and resources field.
8 December, 2006 | Publication
A review of informal sector recycling in developing countries by DCW and colleagues at Imperial College appears in the December 2006 issue of Habitat International.
Habitat International is the leading academic journal for the study of human settlements, established by the UN Habitat Conference in Vancouver in 1976. This article appears in a special issue on Urban waste management as if people matter. The abstract can be read online at the Science Direct website.
8 June, 2006 | Conference, Publication
Professor David C Wilson presented 2 papers at this week’s ISWA Congress in Copenhagen. His keynote paper was on Development Drivers in Waste Management, which explored how the key drivers have varied historically and how they vary today, both around the world and depending on a particular stakeholder’s perspective. Click here to view the paper, or the presentation. He also co-authored a paper with Defra on the role of research to provide the evidence base to underpin new waste and resources policy and legislation. Click here to view the paper or the presentation. ISWA (the International Solid Waste Association) is the international professional body for waste and resources managers.
