A study commissioned by the Netherlands Institute for Sustainable Packaging (KIDV) has found that proper waste management strategies can achieve significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Increased recycling of two thirds of municipal solid waste can reduce annual global greenhouse emissions by 6%. A figure of two thirds was picked because this is possible, while 100% recycling isn’t feasible at present.
In the EU, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 4% thanks to improved recycling.
The study, The Circular Economy: a key instrument for CO2 reduction was undertaken by Dutch research institute CE Delft for KIDV.
As a result of the study, KIDV hopes that the European Commission will note the relevance of CO2 reduction not just in its circular economy legislation, but also its climate change policy that tends to focus on energy and transport.
The report is available in English at https://www.kidv.nl/6222/english-report.pdf
