Fifty years of European waste law, under scrutiny. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the first EU Waste Framework Directive, this colloquium brings together scholars — from law, management, the social sciences and beyond — and practitioners to reflect on half a century of European Waste Laws and Management (EU WL&M).
It examines how the European regulatory framework has evolved, how it has been transposed into Member States, and how local actors have interpreted, adapted, and contested it.
Two tensions at the heart of the debate
| 1 |
EU harmonisation VS. territorial innovation |
| 2 |
Power dynamics between public, private and civil-society actors |
What contributions may cover
The scope is deliberately broad. The categories below are indicative, not exhaustive — contributions on less conventional objects, from war waste to space debris, are equally welcome.
Geographical scale, such as
LocalRegionalNationalOverseasExtra-European& more
Waste streams, such as
MunicipalPackagingElectrical & electronic (WEEE)TextilesConstruction & demolitionHealthcareHazardousBiowaste & foodPlasticsMining & extractiveNuclearWar-related& more
Policy instruments, such as
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)Deposit-Refund System (DRS)Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT)Prevention & reuse programmesLandfill & incineration taxesGreen public procurementEco-design & product standards& more
Infrastructure, such as
MBTRDF/SRFChemical recyclingIncineration & waste-to-energyLandfillingSorting centresAnaerobic digestion & compostingReuse & repair centres& more
The aim: to assess past trajectories and collectively imagine the next fifty years of waste governance in Europe.
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