Waste-to-Energy and the Circular Economy - Connecting the dots

Abstract

In late 2015, the European Commission adopted the Circular Economy Package aimed at promoting the transition to a sustainable, low carbon, resource efficient and competitive economy in the European Union. This contribution examines how the European Commission interprets the Circular Economy concept on the particular topic of Waste-to-Energy (WtE) practices. Its objective is to find an answer to the question whether the proposed EU policy on the Circular Economy can align and potentially unite the existing frameworks regulating WtE, which consists of the waste framework legislation on the one hand and energy legislation on the other. To this end, this contribution first explains the EU policies regarding the Circular Economy and examines their links to WtE. It then discusses the challenges to the overall framework regulating WtE.