WASTE MANAGEMENT REGULATION: responsibility allocation and experts participation to the decisional process

Transcription

1 WASTE MANAGEMENT REGULATION: responsibility allocation and experts participation to the decisional process Risk and Regulation: Research Student Conference 2005 LSE London, 15 th 16 th September 2005 Elisa Squerzanti (Institute for Science and Technologies Studies, International Graduate School in Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany)

2 My presentation will be divided into: 1) Introduction 2) Research questions and Methods 3) Results 4) Conclusions

3 1. Introduction 1. Necessity of a regulation Waste crisis ( end of 80s) EC Directive on Waste 91/156, EC Directive on Packaging Waste 94/62 Aims of the new framework : to reduce landifills; to prevent waste at the source; to avoid barriers to trade

4 2. Research Objectives and Methods 2.1. Research Objectives Research Questions: 1. What are the differences and similarities between the German and the Italian system for waste management? 2. Which factors and mechanisms explain them? Main Hypothesis Different regulative, political and organisational cultures may be of of the explanation for these differences.

5 2. Research Objectives and Methods 2.2. Methods My analysis is based on : 1. Law Text comparison German Cycle Economy and Waste Law (1996) German Packaging Ordinance (1991 as amended in 1998) Compared to Italian Legislative Decree 22/97 (Ronchi Decree) 2. Interviews with Experts and Stakeholders

6 3.1. Communitarian Regulation and National Harmonisation EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991 amending Directive 75/442/EEC on waste Packaging Ordinance of 1991 as amended by Packaging Ordinance of 1998 Legislative Decree 22/97 (Decreto Ronchi) on waste and packaging waste 1997 Cycle Economy and Waste Law 1996 amending Waste Law 1986

7 Standpoint of domestic regulation when EC Directives came into force Problems Harmonization of EC Directives Italy Waste management not regulated extensively. (LAGGARD) Delay in the harmonisation of EC directives Economic problems due to a lack responsibility allocation. unique Legislative Decree due to (Emergence/Emergency) Creation of a new waste management system Germany Already existing regulation Waste Law and Packaging Ordinance (FORERUNNER) Delay in the harmonisation of EC directives due to institutional veto points Restriction of domestic legislation to avoid trade barriers on the SEM. Amendment of Waste Law and Packaging Ordinance. Allocation of responsibility Shared responsibility (Communitarian concept applied to domestic waste management policies) Producer Responsibility (German concept extended to the amending Directive 2004/12 on packaging)

8 3.2. Actors participating to the decisionmaking process Italy (Consulting board participants) Ministry of the Environment Ministry of Industry Lobbies and Stakeholders Representatives of Trade and Industry Germany

9 Federal Government Ministry of the Environment (Bundesministerium für Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit-BMU) Ministry of Economy (Bundesministerium für wirtschaft- BMWi) Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt-BKA) Länder Bundesrat (Federal States representative chamber) Länder working group on waste (Länder Arbeitsgemeinschaft Abfall-LAGA) Municipalities German Association of cities and Towns (Deutscher Städtetag) German county association (Deutscher Landkreistag) German Federation of cities and Municipalities (Deutscher Städte and Gemeindebund) Different Stakeholders Environmental Groups Working group for Packaging and Environment (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Verpackung and Umwelt-AGVU) Federal Association of the German Disposal Industry (Bundesverband der Deutschen Entsorgungwirtschaft BDE) Pro-Reuse Association (Pro-Mehweg) Dual System Germany (Duales System Deutschland - Das bessere Müllkonzept BUND (Bund für Natur und Umweltschutz) Greenpeace Advisory bodies Enquete Commission Protection of Mankind and Environment (Enquete Kommission Schutz des Menschen und der Umwelt) Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen (SRU) Office for Technology Assessment (Büro für Technikfolgeabschätzung)

10 3.3. Expert knowledge and decision making process Italy Advisory institutions: No public participation of independent advisory institutions and public commitees to the decisional process Internal Investigative Committee of the Parliament : Commission on Waste Cycle and Illegal Activities Other experts institutions: Germany Advisory institutions SRU (Council of einvironmental experts) TAB (Office of Technology Assessment) Enquete Commission (Protection of Makind and Environment) Other experts Institutions: UBA (Federal Environmental Office) Scientific Institutes (for instance Fraunhofer, Witzenhausen Institute) and Universities

11 Technical-Scientific Commission, The Scientific Committee and the National Council for the Environment APAT

12 GERMANY Federal political Decision-making Pressure on policy-makers Environmental Pressure groups public Federal States Local authorities Lobbies and Stakeholders Source of legitimation science

13 GERMANY Environmental Interests Economic Interests Strong environmental groups Public and scientific participation to decision making Strong Lobbyism Stakeholders and pressure groups POLITICAL DECISION MAKING Looking for legitimation in : expertise, public consesus Local authorities acceptance

14 ITALY Pressure on policy-makers Decision-making Process Lobbies and Stakeholders Public Science Environmental Pressure groups Regions Local authorities Sensitization programmes

15 ITALY Environmental Interests Economic Interests Weak pressure groups Public distrust towards authorities Limited environmental awareness Strong Lobbyism and Stakeholders POLITICAL DECISION MAKING Looking in support in those private actors who have to implement and finance the system (Limited) necessity of public consensus and consultation of experts

16 GERMANY Producer Responsibility Waste management responsibility Should be relieved from waste management responsibility Producers Public Administration Consumers Sanctions if they do not separate correct

17 GERMANY 3.5.The application of Producer responsibility in Germany Producer responsibility (Produktverantwortung) focuses on product and on producers, who are responsible when their products are put into circulation and have to take them back at the end of their lifecycle. Its application in German policy Caused an emblematic change in the environmental politics shifting the attention from universal services of general interest (Daseinsvorsorge) to the polluter-pay principle Not a paradigmatic change, because municipalities are still responsible for the collection of biological and residual waste and sometimes of the packaging fraction as well

18 ITALY Waste management responsibility Shared Responsibility Producers Public Administration Consumers Sensitisation of the consumers

19 ITALY 3.4. The application of shared responsibility in Italy Shared responsibility means: to recognize and establish boundaries of action amongst all involved actors (Art 2 clause 3 Law Decree 22/97). In other words that: National enterprises are responsible for the quality of their packaging and they have to pay for the separate collection of waste at the first cession of their products while Public administration (Art. 39) has to create an efficient system for the separate collection of waste operating (and this is the innovation introduced in the Italian waste management policy) according to the principles of efficiency, effectiveness, and economy. (art 20)

20 4. Conclusions 4. Conclusions Italian and German (packaging) waste management regulation are in many insights very different: While German packaging waste regulation came into force before the EC Packaging and Packaging Waste directive had been adopted, Italian waste management regulation depended directly on Communitarian Directives on waste (Directive 91/156/EEC) on packaging waste (Directive 94/62/EC) and on hazardous waste (Directive 91/689/EC). A different kind of adaptation pressure was then exerted on the Member States. While Germany has an old political consultation tradition, where experts and stakeholders may take part in a structured and formal way to the decision-making process, Italian political consultation is still based on informal and unstructured approaches where no official and independent organ exists, to deliver scientific exepertise. In many case it is the good will of the single minister, which determines the partecipation of scientific experts and stakeholders to the decision making process. Although EC policies encouraged the member States to determine a clear allocation of responsibilities for the well functioning of the domestic waste management system, the member States developed and interpreted the responsibility principle in two different way: producer responsibility (private- Germany) vs shared responsibility (private and public- Italy).

21 THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Elisa Squerzanti (Institute for Science and Technologies Studies, International Graduate School in Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany)