Resource consumption is essential to our existence. Global population and economic growth are increasing the pressure on natural resources such as raw materials, land and biodiversity. The German Environment Agency pursues the key aim to reduce resource consumption and the associated environmental impact overall and along the entire value-adding chain. The avoidance of waste and the use of residual and waste materials as secondary raw materials and the energy recovery of waste can also make a meaningful contribution to resource conservation, as can resource-efficient production processes, products and utilisation concepts.
The aim of the research project “Resource-efficient land use – Towards a Global Sustainable Land Use Standard” was to spark a debate on the development of a standard for global sustainable land use, launch the requisite scientific process and explore and identify options for implementing a global sustainable land use.
UBA: Focus more attention on large-size plastic litter
Significantly more court decisions taken on exports of waste to Africa and Eastern Europe
One of the principles of environmental protection is that wastes must be recycled. However, it is counterproductive to reintroduce a recycled product which contains pollutants. An UBA study examines how this can be prevented for five persistent organic pollutants (POP).
UBA President Krautzberger: There is hardly any sector where waste avoidance is so easy.
Efficiency increase oftentimes reduces product or service costs, which can in turn ramp up consumption (due to reduced prices), thus partly canceling out the original savings. This is known as the rebound effect.
Waste management makes an important contribution to climate protection. Recycling, the energetic use of residual waste, and capturing and utilizing landfill gas contribute significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Germany, the landfill ban for untreated municipal solid waste (MSW) set an important impulse for this development.
Waste prevention conserves resources and protects people and the environment. It is therefore a primary goal of the circular economy. In 2013, the Waste Prevention Program with the participation of the federal states was adopted. It was drawn up with support of the German Environment Agency. The waste prevention program was reviewed in 2019 and updated in 2021.
Pursuant to Germany’s Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz law, waste is to be disposed of in a safe and environmentally compatible manner, whereby the top priority in this regard is protecting human health and the environment. Various waste treatment, recycling and disposal techniques are used, depending on the nature of the waste in question and the waste management objective.
German government statistics concerning transfrontier shipment of wastes show that such transactions mainly involve neighboring countries, with the lion’s share of waste originating from the relevant border regions. The mean transport distance between the location at which waste originates and its recovery or disposal destination is less than 500 kilometers.
