How To Strengthen The Circular Economy With Waste Management In Europe?

Major fractions of valuable resources are lost during waste management due to inefficient waste collection, consumer behavior and a lack of awareness, market-related aspects, technological barriers, design complexities, and embedded materials' hazardous nature.

FREMONT, CA: Europe depends heavily on material resources for all society's activities. Its extraction &production of material resources have considerable impacts on the environment, human health, and the economy. Therefore, it is essential to reuse such resources in European economies, keeping their value high, delivering value for extended periods, and decreasing the need to use virgin materials.

Major fractions of valuable resources are lost during waste management due to inefficient waste collection, consumer behavior and a lack of awareness, market-related aspects, technological barriers, design complexities, and embedded materials' hazardous nature.

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Rising resource extraction poses considerable environmental and human health risks, e.g., resource depletion, air pollution, water and soil pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss.

Loss of resources is also associated with the loss of critical raw materials that are fundamental to the functioning of central industrial sectors and applications.

Reducing resource losses is essential to guarantee our well-being and strengthen the circular economy in Europe.

Present frameworks that assess material circularity are inexact, which makes it difficult to monitor progress in the circular economy.

Waste from electrical and electronic equipment

The amount of waste (WEEE, or e-waste) is steadily increasing and is one of Europe's fastest-growing waste streams. The amount of WEEE caused in Europe is over 10 million tonnes per year, hardly 40 % of which is currently collected for recycling. However, the generation of WEEE is expected to increase in the future, and improvements in collection systems and awareness among consumers are needed to ensure increased recycling, causing reduced losses.

WEEE comprises precious metals and several critical raw materials fundamental to the functioning of key industrial sectors and applications. Although base metals such as ferrous metals, aluminum, and copper from WEEE are already largely recycled, numerous critical raw materials or rare Earth elements cannot be effectively recovered because of low market prices that do not cover recycling costs, deficiency of recycling technologies on a commercial scale or metallurgical limits to recovery processes.

As WEEE also incorporates hazardous materials and chemicals that pose environmental and health hazards, Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament & of the Council of 8 June 2011 controls the application of certain dangerous imports in electrical & electronic equipment. Although EU legislation forbids cross-boundary transport of WEEE is known to occur between Europe and developing countries, where the environmental rules are not as strict, and labor costs are lower, creating extra environmental and health risks in these locations.

Numerous electrical and electronics products are not properly designed for recycling. Design choices that raise the marketability and durability of high-tech products create recycling disputes for separating components and material recovery. For example, miniaturization and structurally integrated materials make disassembly and recovery harder. Although waste collection and management are key to decreasing the loss of WEEE, more circular and recycling-friendly designs, supplies, and manufacturing phases would outcome in longer product lifespans, modularity, standardization of parts, easier remanufacturing, etc.

End-of-life batteries

About 1.9 million tonnes of waste batteries are generated annually in Europe, and the amount is expected to increase. However, huge variations exist between different battery types regarding their chemical composition and construction. In addition, batteries contain various materials, such as base metals, critical raw materials, and hazardous substances. Thus, collection and recycling rates, the profitability of recycling, and impacts on the environment and health depend on the battery type. Therefore, the recovery of materials from waste batteries is activated by both waste policies and the economic value of the materials.

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Lead-acid batteries account for a significant share of all batteries in the market and are collected as waste. The recycling of lead-acid batteries is well established, and it is estimated that 99 % of lead-acid batteries are collected for recycling. Since the process is relatively simple, it is also profitable. The effectiveness of recycling the lead content of lead-acid batteries is over 95 % in most EU countries. Furthermore, secondary lead can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds compared with the primary production of lead.

Antimony is a critical raw material used as an additive in lead-acid batteries. Almost all of it is recovered and is the main source of secondary antimony.

In lithium-ion batteries, different active materials are used in thin coatings, which makes the recycling process more complicated and not very profitable. Still, the lithium-ion battery sector is expected to grow shortly, especially for industrial batteries and batteries used in electric vehicles.

Textile waste

In Europe, exceeding 9.5 million tonnes of textiles are consumed annually, and the yearly disposal of textiles is estimated to be 5.6 million. Exceeding 4 million tonnes of textile waste is not collected separately and usually ends up in miscellaneous municipal solid waste, and 1.5 million tonnes of worn textiles are exported outward to the EU.

Reliable and up-to-date data are restricted for textile waste, and informal reuse (donation between family and friends) or reuse through second-hand shops are not included in waste statistics. Although there are some recent studies in many countries, there is no overall data for the EU on separate collection rates of textile waste. Based on a study of seven countries utilizing data for 2014 or earlier, it was estimated that just 20 % of textiles are separately collected for reuse and recycling, and thus 80 % are lost. Of the individually collected textiles, the reusable fraction is exported and sold in foreign markets, while the non-reusable fraction is downcycled.

Mixed fibers and embedded hazardous substances make recycling difficult. Therefore, policymakers' responses should incorporate designing for circularity, easy material identification, and improved collection systems.

The possible environmental gains achieved through extensive reuse or recycling are high: producing textiles is connected with significant environmental impacts, like CO2 emissions, high water, land use, and chemical pollution, mainly caused by cotton production. As Europe is a net distributor of textiles, the impacts avoided will mostly occur outside Europe.

Plastic waste

Around 30 million tonnes of plastic waste in the EU. Of this, merely 5 million tonnes are recycled in Europe, and 25 million tonnes are lost, comprising misplaced waste and process losses in recycling. Almost half of the plastic packaging waste was exported outside Europe in 2015, mainly to China; lately, this has also incorporated other countries in Asia. Only part of the plastics gathered can be reprocessed because of mixed streams, contamination, and additive contents, which hamper recycling. Design aspects and embedded hazardous and toxic substances make recycling technically and economically difficult. Moreover, plastic waste is typically only recycled a few times because of material degradation, making downcycling (i.e., non-functional recycling) very common. Only 6 % of new plastic materials are based on recycled plastics, as plastic recyclables do not generally meet the material requirements for use in the same application.

Packaging is the biggest contributor to plastic waste, generating around 16 million tonnes. This is succeeded by plastic waste from WEEE, the construction and demolition sector, and end-of-life vehicles. Packaging products — especially single-use plastics — are generally used for a short time and quickly end up as waste.

About 43 % of the plastic waste generated by the packaging sector in the EU-28 in 2016 was gathered, and the rest was disposed of in landfills or incinerated with energy recovery. However, inadequate collection systems, together with the relatively low prices of virgin materials and high costs of sorting and processing (comprising investment costs), are the main disputes associated with the losses of plastic packaging waste.

In 2018, a European tactic for plastics in a circular economy was accepted. The strategy targets to transform how plastics and plastic products are designed, produced, utilized, and recycled. By 2030, every plastic packaging should be recyclable. Moreover, the Single Use Plastics Directive requires measures to be taken to raise the gathering of plastic bottles, recycle plastic packaging and decrease the consumption of plastic food containers.

Plastic products usually also appear in paints, glues, and binding agents in the construction sector, making the recovery of plastic materials challenging and costly. The incorporation of plastic-containing components in building stock is considerable. Yearly, about 1 million tonnes of plastic waste from construction is caused in Europe: among this plastic waste, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) has the greatest recycling rate (32 %). Technical disputes in recovering recyclable plastics from end-of-life vehicles and WEEE exist, and efforts devoted to these waste streams primarily focus on metal recovery.

Final Thought

Poor or insufficient collection is a serious challenge linked to almost all the waste streams analyzed. Consumer knowledge is another important factor in increasing the collection rates of diverse waste fractions. In addition, various challenges are related to the quality of waste materials, such as material heterogeneity and the presence of dangerous substances that hamper recycling.

For some materials, technological disputes are also important reasons for losses and the lack of a market or demand for recyclables. Material losses are usually cross-linked, e.g., waste quality (heterogeneity) and a lack of cost-efficient technology. Therefore, more efforts are necessary to introduce efficient systems for collecting and sorting waste. Also, it is important to raise consumer awareness to achieve higher collection rates.