Minimization of hazardous waste in Western Europe: Policy implementation and harmonization
This dissertation examines why European policies aimed at minimizing hazardous waste have failed to accomplish their goal. Four national case studies show the obstacles to implementing hazardous waste minimization in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK. A conflict assessment approach is employed to identify the interests, conflicts and trade-offs involved in hazardous waste minimization efforts and the interactions between national and cross-national dimensions of hazardous waste issues, which affect their implementation. Increasing production of hazardous waste in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK shows that all of these countries have failed to achieve minimization of hazardous waste, despite striking differences in how each country has pursued this goal. In all four countries national policies failed because of conflicts among interest groups. At the center of these conflicts are three trade-offs: (1) between environmental protection and economic development; (2) between risks and costs; and (3) in the distribution of costs among different groups, geographic regions and generations. Parties that have a major interest in decisions about minimizing hazardous waste are typically excluded from the policy making process. Thus, disagreements on the choices to be made emerge during implementation and impede the achievement of policy objectives. The recent success of a new preventive policy adopted in the Netherlands through the committed involvement of all interest groups in setting minimization targets shows that an open policy process can improve implementation. The growing interdependence among nations has been shown to be relevant to the effective implementation of many national policies. Discrepancies among regulatory system sin Europe run counter to national efforts to minimize hazardous waste. The creation of a single market will exacerbate the problem and lead to new conflicts.
- Research Organization:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 6934774
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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