Page - 688 - in Menschenrechte und Gerechtigkeit als bleibende Aufgaben - Beiträge aus Religion, Theologie, Ethik, Recht und Wirtschaft

© 2020, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847111658 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737011655 theEuropeanUnion,Switzerland,Norway,andIcelandincreasedendof2015to 74%.24 “Despite sucha strong record, the amountof aluminiumcollected and sortedneedstobeincreased.Growingdemandforscrapmakesitchallengingfor theEuropeanindustry toaccess thisvaluablerawmaterial.”25Despite its limits, oneof thegreatestbenefitsof recycling is raisingecological awareness: “Usingrecycledmaterials inmanufacturingalmostalwaysuses lesswaterandenergy, releases lesspollution, andemits less carbondioxide thanmanufacturingwithvirgin materials. In addition, perhaps one of the greatest benefits of recycling has been its effectonpublicawarenessofenvironmental issues.Recyclingis the firstcontactmany people have with issues of planetary health and the connection between their own actionsandtheenvironment.”26 Thenext stepwithin thewasteor resourcehierarchy isEnergyRecovery (WtE, WastetoEnergy)throughincineration,whichcanbe–ifproperlydone–abetter option thanmere disposal ofwaste on landfills. In general, waste incineration and landfilling areat the lowest levelof theWasteHierarchyand thus the least choiceandshouldbewidelyphasedoutinthelongrun.Robertsonaffirmsthatin “addition tohavingconcerns abouthealth risks, someorganizationsobject on the basis of environmental justice since incinerators are usually built in low- income communities”27.Whenwaste cannot bepreventedor its resources not recycled,“recoveringitsenergycontent is inmostcasespreferabletolandfilling it, in both environmental and economic terms.”28 But WtE must strictly be chosenand implementedbasedonthePrincipleof theWaste (Resource)Hier- archy.TheimplementationoftheWasteHierarchyPrincipleinsocietiesrequires consistent policies and incentives and the raising of awareness and education among all stakeholders. “Rather than a singlemonthly fee, users are charged basedonthevolumetheydiscard,anapproachsometimesknownaspay-as-you- throw.Someregionshavetakenmoneythatwouldhavebeenspentonlandfillsor incinerators and insteadhave invested in infrastructure that supports reuse.”29 Overall, a profound change of mentality and thinking, and a fundamental transformationof social-economic structures is crucial towards implementing consistent circular andzero-waste systems: “ZeroWaste involves rethinking the entire production andwasting system.This ap- proachconsiders theentire life cycleofaproductwhenanalyzing its costs. It stresses 24 European Aluminium, Press Release “Aluminium Beverage Can Recycling Rate at 74%: Aluminium beverage cans already well above the future EUCircular Economy recycling targets.”,Brussels June12th2018. 25 EuropeanAluminium,RecyclingAluminium,p.10. 26 Robertson,Sustainability,p. 275. 27 Ibid., p. 272. 28 EUCommission2015,Closing theLoop,p.10. 29 Robertson,Sustainability,p. 281. FranzGassner688 Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0