Waste prevention: is there any chance?

In our „No waste is good waste” projects launched in 2004, we examined how the issue of waste prevention is represented in Hungarian officials documents on waste management. Our experience was that there is no serious, integrated strategy for waste management in Hungary. Due to the lack of integrated analyses, the competent persons of waste management cannot focus on removing of the causes of waste production, they concentrate on management of the problem (that is, waste) itself. One consequence of it is that the waste management hierarchy, which has been referred to several times and which is basically correct, is not realised in practice. Moreover, if our strategy continues to focus on the problem itself, hierarchy is not going to be realised in the long term either since current developments are taking away this opportunity. The infrastructure of waste disposal (incinerators and landfills) is being developed at a great pace, and, though at a slower pace, the same is true for the infrastructure of recycling as well. Actually we need these projects but it is to be feared that by the time we will realise the importance of waste prevention, we will have a system of waste management, which will create a continuous need for waste. This system would hinder the investments for prevention, and instead of environmental aspects economic considerations would dominate.

Additional problems are:

- politicians do not try to adopt a policy of waste management which takes into account ecological considerations since it leads to conflicts with industrial interests on one hand, and requires unpopular measures against the population which is already accustomed to Western consumer patterns on the other.

- it is easier to build waste incineration facilities and landfills than initiating projects which further waste prevention. It is especially true because there are no pilot projects in other EU member states either which could be adopted easily as an alternative. In addition to this, building incinerators and landfills is more lucrative for investors and it is easier to get funds from the EU for waste disposal projects.

- recent principles and tasks are only recommendations; violating them does not involve any consequences for those responsible for the violation. The state can’t expect environmental-conscious behaviour on from the industrial participants or the population when the administration itself ignores environmental aspects.

- in the process of adopting a regulation, industrial interests, not environmental considerations are taken into account. (Sadly, we even cannot expect a remedy for this problem from the EU. The European Union, besides requiring from member states to adopt its directives, does not make any steps to help practical measures of waste prevention come into force. On the contrary, in many instances the EU itself prevents these practical measures from becoming effective, referring to the free movement of goods).

- efforts to curb the use of raw materials and energy sources are not making any impact. We can see that the quantity of materials used for new items may be less (for example, the thickness of eco-friendly bottles is reduced) but overall output is nevertheless growing due to different marketing methods to sell more of them.

- the current structure of economy and the importance of economic growth are not favourable to further preventive measures in the environment protection. Waste management requires an enormous workforce but companies are not willing to employ more people because of the extra costs for wages. In the world market, primary products are constantly cheaper than secondary raw materials therefore producers do not use secondary raw materials.

- the outdated concept of economic competitiveness still suggests that companies are successful only if they use cost-efficient natural resources and are able to shift the negative externalities of their activities onto someone else. The rule of law and market incentives do not inspire economic participants to make investments into waste management. The only aim of the economic players is retaining the status quo.

- in the last 15 years, Western consumer patterns have appeared also in Hungary. It happened quickly, and because of the political change, new opportunities for consumption have become more important in people’s lives in Hungary than in Western European countries. Due to this fact, ecological consumer protection and eco-responsible consumption has not had any real opportunity to evolve in Hungary in recent years. According to studies, the majority of Hungarian adults (71%) are aware of the fact that everything we do in these modern times has an impact on our environment („detrimental to the environment”). However people see the solution not in changing their lifestyles but in technological developments. Unfortunately, these findings are confirmed by actual processes. The majority of the population is not willing to deal with waste prevention; well-organised waste collection, selective waste management, recycling, high-tech incinerators and landfills (see also technological developments) seem to be a decent solution to the problem of waste management.

- the importance of consumption is unquestionable among haves as well as haves not. The rich buy luxury articles and shop in shopping malls „to enhance their personality”, the poor buy cheap goods to keep pace with their need for consumption.

- the spread of consumerism is only one side of the coin. The other side is that eco-responsible consumers have to make efforts to live according to their preferences, if they can at all (ignoring the possibility of reducing their consumption) since they have only slight alternatives when buying goods or using a service.

- during our above-mentioned project, „No waste is good waste”, we would like to make a summary about the measures we think certain social groups should follow to create less waste. During this project we discuss our recommendations with representatives of the government, the producers and the civil society in each statistical region in Hungary. After that we will summarise our experiences at an international conference. Our goal is that preventive protection of the environment will be taken into account seriously by 2007, instead of being used only as a political slogan. To achieve this, each social participants should take part in the process.