Business Models for the Circular Economy by OECD

Author:OECD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: energy/finance/industry/economics/environment
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Published: 2019-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Box 4.1. The waste hierarchy

The waste hierarchy is a concept that guides waste management policy in many OECD and non-OECD countries. Although the goal or objective of the waste hierarchy is rarely made explicit, it is often interpreted to be the minimization of the environmental impacts associated with the various solid waste management options (e.g. SEI, 2005 ([1])). Various versions of the hierarchy exist; the version embedded in the EU Waste Framework Directive (EU Directive 2008/98/EC) is perhaps the most cited. It ranks solid waste management options from most to least preferable as follows: (i) prevention, (ii) preparing for re-use, (iii) recycling, (iv) other recovery (e.g., energy), (v) disposal. In other words, from an environmental perspective, the priority should be to first limit the generation of waste, then to recycle and recover what is generated, and only then to dispose of what remains. This hierarchy is broadly consistent with the idea that the main objective of the circular economy is to maintain the value of products, components, and materials at their highest level.

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