Waste treatment and recycling have an important role in building a resource-efficient circular economy. Recycling protects the environments, supports security of supply of raw materials and can provide more cost-effective inputs to industry. In a circular economy, waste is eliminated by closing reuse and recycling loops.1 A resource-efficient system of production and consumption benefits economically through the use of residuals, by-products, and waste as inputs to production processes. With the given state of technology, governance processes are often more important for increasing recycling rates or reducing waste than actual technological innovations.2 3 4 The success of the innovation system for waste and recycling critically depends on developments in product design, consumer behaviour, waste infrastructures, and the business case for waste utilization. All these factors are ultimately strongly shaped by government regulations and policies. Click here for an example on how to use the indicators below to analyse responses to the problem of plastic waste.

• 1. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 2012. ‘Towards a Circular Economy Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition’.
• 2. Bulkeley, Harriet, Matt Watson, and Ray Hudson. 2007. ‘Modes of Governing Municipal Waste’. Environment and Planning A 39 (11): 2733–53. doi:10.1068/a38269.
• 3. Manhart, Andreas. 2011. ‘International Cooperation for Metal Recycling from Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment’. Journal of Industrial Ecology 15 (1): 13–30.
• 4. Saner, Dominik, Yann B. Blumer, Daniel J. Lang, and Annette Koehler. 2011. ‘Scenarios for the Implementation of EU Waste Legislation at National Level and Their Consequences for Emissions from Municipal Waste Incineration’. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 57: 67–77.