Change (and comply with) waste regulations to transform the

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The urgency of changing the direction of the regulations becomes clear if we take into account that Spain has failed to meet the preparation objectives for the reuse and recycling of domestic and assimilated waste required for the year 2020 in European regulations. By ALOIA LÓPEZ FERRO 9379 readings AUTHOR ALOIA LOPEZ FERRO 06-07-2023 The challenges that arise to increase the effectiveness of waste regulations are numerous, in line with the serious environmental crisis we are experiencing, the alarming figures of biodiversity loss and the unprecedented challenge that climate change represents. Despite the difficulty, the need to act is unquestionable. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns in its latest report, “there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to ensure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” The change we need is profound: it requires transforming the way we produce and consume. And a change of this nature implies improving the configuration and application of the applicable legal framework. For this reason, environmental law increasingly manifests its transversal nature. Thus, to make the roadmap established in the circular economy action plans of the European Commission a reality, the regulatory focus is directed, with greater or lesser intensity, to consumer regulations, product design, single-use plastics. , waste transfer, environmental allegations, sustainable investments, sustainability disclosure, construction products or microplastics, among multiple other areas of regulation.



Policies and regulations related to waste management must also be considered as not only instruments, but fundamental for change. Waste regulations not only pursue more efficient management of the substances or objects we dispose of, but also the prevention of their generation. Waste prevention measures, and effective compliance with the waste hierarchy, are critical aspects to try to stay within planetary limits. We have moved 9.5% away from the 50% objective set by the European Union, and the difficulty of meeting this goal will increase CZ Leads in the coming years, when we have to discount the biostabilized material from the remaining fraction of the calculation. In terms of waste, the urgency of changing the direction of the regulations is evident if we take into account that Spain has failed to meet the preparation objectives for the reuse and recycling of domestic and assimilated waste required for the year 2020 in European regulations. We have moved 9.5% away from the 50% objective set by the European Union, and the difficulty of meeting this goal will increase in the coming years, when we have to discount the biostabilized material from the remaining fraction of the calculation. Likewise, measures that lead to a reduction in the waste generated and, when this is not possible, its recycling and recovery, contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy demand and the need for the extraction of new materials.







Face the challenges that arise, the new basic waste regulations in Spain have included an explicit reference in its title about its purpose: our waste legislation, at least in its name, is presented as a waste standard for a circular economy. However, the fact that the norm only allocates three of its articles specifically to prevention measures, the terms used - which sometimes blur the mandatory force of the measures to be adopted - and the need for regulatory development of numerous of its provisions allow us to question its transformative nature. Despite this, even with its shortcomings and lack of definitions, the new regulatory context includes provisions that represent a challenge for administrations and economic operators. In particular, the increase in products affected by extended producer responsibility, the increase in waste fractions that must be collected separately, economic instruments such as the landfill tax or the tax on plastic packaging do not represent important developments. reusable. We are at a critical point to modify the currently prevailing production and consumption model, which is translating into an incessant pace of modification and approval of new environmental regulations. We are at a critical point to modify the currently prevailing production and consumption model, which is translating into an incessant pace of modification and approval of new environmental regulations.