Culture Arises in the Space Between Rules

Dipl.-Ing.(TU) Werner P. Bauer

A Thought Experiment

Key Insights:

In Belém, discussions on "Waste management and Circular Economy” took place for the first time, also addressing production and consumption patterns as essential for achieving climate targets. How can we get people to rethink their behaviour towards waste, garbage and pollutants, to question their individual waste culture, to see themselves as part of the problem? Because then they, and we, are also part of the solution.

In fact, the circular economy was explicitly highlighted for the first time – a first at a UN climate conference! Issues of material efficiency and recycling were discussed, as well as investments in collection and sorting technologies and much more. A global ‘Circularity Gap Report’ was compiled – you can download it here.

The decarbonisation of energy-intensive materials such as aluminium, cement and steel, material efficiency, standards for reuse, bioeconomy and sustainable procurement – all topics related to waste management were discussed: so far, so good.

What we could achieve in the crucial field of decarbonization through the worldwide closure of landfills is demonstrated by looking back at 20 years of the landfill ban in Germany: waste recovery and the energetic utilization of waste contributed "a quarter of the greenhouse-gas reduction achieved in Germany during that period” between 1990 and 2010. Whether this can also form the basis for practical, feasible, and consistent global climate protection is currently being examined by IESP e.V., by gathering experiences from 20 years of landfill bans in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from various stakeholders and encouraging discussion.

Edenhofer’s call for "concrete implementation steps,” quoted at the beginning, motivates me to continue searching for and sharing reliable case studies and culture stories in WasteCulture.

Werner Bauer
Representing WasteCulture 
VP GWC

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