Outline the current issues and challenges for this topic

Challenges

The world’s population growth is negatively impacting the planet. Apart from global warming and resource over exploitation, waste generation is a major problem. For example, every European citizen generates an average of 1,69 kg of waste per day, that is more than six hundred and twenty kilograms per year. Over 60% of waste generation results of product containers and packages, that are often made to be disposed of after one use. Until recently waste management was focused on dumping waste in landfills or incinerating it. This approach is not sustainable for several reasons:

1. Risks for the environment, living beings and people’s health
2. Failure to reduce resource consumption (raw materials and energy)
3. Does not address the cause of the problem (consumption model) but only the consequences (the waste management)
4. Human resources and global capital
5. Awareness towards waste prevention strategies from both producers and consumers
6. Differences on the uptake of recycling and separate collection across countries (even across regions ex. Italy, north different from the south)
7. The need for simplification of the authorization procedures for recycling and the non-harmonization of different laws.