Environmental Movements and Waste Infrastructure by Christopher Rootes & Liam Leonard

Author:Christopher Rootes & Liam Leonard [Rootes, Christopher & Leonard, Liam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Public Policy, Environmental Policy
ISBN: 9780415814768
Google: A6e-MAEACAAJ
Goodreads: 16200007
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-11-13T00:00:00+00:00

Governing waste

Waste management issues and the broader issue of sustainable development are, ultimately, issues concerning governance in contemporary societies. Governance is taken to refer to the sum of interactions between civil society and governments. Good governance is currently taken to include transparency, effectiveness, openness, responsiveness and accountability. These are all criteria by which we can legitimately evaluate the government of the day in respect of its dealing with civil society and its concerns. So, if sectors of civil society – concerned individuals, community groups and environmental groups – have concerns about the government’s waste management strategy (whether as discrete projects or as an indicator of the broader concern with sustainable development in particular), we can expect them to be dealt with according to the internationally accepted criteria of good governance.

The essence of governance is its focus on mechanisms to govern society which do not rest on the use of authority or of sanctions by government. Forms of partnership with the organisations of civil society are one of the preferred options of the governance approach. Following one of the authorities in this area, ‘governance recognises the blurring of boundaries and responsibilities for tackling social and economic issues’ (Stoker 1998, p. 21). Both in terms of strategic decision-making and of service delivery there is now a growing critique of the ‘Westminster model’ (see Bache and Flinders 2005, Bevir 2008) on the grounds that its centralised powers lack flexibility and the necessary counterbalances. Government by central decree is becoming increasingly unpopular in contemporary western society, and is often replaced by a more consensual model based on multi-agency partnerships or some hybrid model. The notion of governance (and particularly multi-level governance in an EU context) responds to these perceived weaknesses with an ideal type stressing the complexity of modern-day political management and the need for ongoing citizen participation in that process.

When we look at the production and management of waste it is useful to think in terms of multi-scalar processes, where rescaling of waste production in the era of glocalisation has occurred and where its successful management relies on governance at multiple levels – global, regional, national and local. EU directives on waste have been the key driver of waste management policy in Ireland (Fagan et al. 2001). The European Economic Community (EEC) Act of 1972 gave direct precedence to European acts over domestic laws and constitutional provisions in the Republic and in Northern Ireland. The ratification of the Single European Act (1986), the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) and the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) further ensured the supremacy of EU law over domestic law. In its programme for dealing with waste the EU produced legislation, which includes Directives on dangerous substances, waste oils, groundwater, urban waste water, licensing regulations, the disposal of PCB/PCT, toxic waste, sewage sludge in agriculture, emissions from waste incineration plants, the disposal of animal waste, and batteries containing dangerous fluids. It likewise set targets for reduction in all waste streams, and set very specific timeframes for national governments to meet these reductions.

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