Suchergebnisse

International audience ; Dans une optique de développement durable, l'économique ne doit pas occulter l'environnemental et le social, et les analyses coûts/avantages ne doivent pas ignorer l'identité des gagnants et des perdants.Pour l'illustrer, le cas d'un produit largement importé par les pays du Nord a été retenu : celui d'un tee-shirt en coton. Toutes les étapes de son cycle de vie (du berceau au tombeau) sont considérées : production de coton ; transformation en fil, tissu, puis confection ; importation et vente au consommateur ; usage et après-usage, suivant qu'il est éliminé ou devient article de friperie, largement exporté.L'analyse remet en question le bien-fondé de politiques protectionnistes des pays riches, en particulier aux plans social et environnemental. L'intérêt des alternatives que constituent le coton biologique et le commerce équitable est souligné.

International audience ; The policy of waste comes more and more within the scope of an integrated product policy, that is to say not only end-of-pipe but preventive measures. The main axes are cleaner technologies, cleaner products, eco-consumption and recycling.A strategic approach is required to ensure the effectiveness of the policy, in the frame of a product chain pressure point analysis or a leverage point analysis, in order to maximize the induced effects. Moreover appropriate instruments have to be chosen (and combined) to ensure effectiveness and economic efficiency. Cost/effectiveness ratios may be calculated.Environmental protection needs command-and-control, but the part of economic instruments is increasing and suasive instruments may play an interesting role. The paper provides concrete examples on this topic. The "extended producer's responsibility" (EPR) appears as a new major principle, with applications to an increasing number of products. There is a relation with deposit-refund systems, which are effective but not always efficient, depending on logistic aspects. Concerning EPR, the paper deals with the following main questions: channeling of the responsibility; transition from an individual to a collective responsibility with the building-up of eco-organizations; choice between global or "segmented" recycling objectives; unicity or multiplicity of eco-organizations; producer's total or partial responsibility; consumer's information; judgment in respects to effectiveness, efficiency and equity.Moreover the development of "pay-as-you-throw" systems for financing at the local level the disposal of the municipal solid waste leads to compare the upstream (on products) and downstream (on wastes) financing systems, than to combine them when the producer's responsibility is not complete. On this matter there is a risk of disappointment at the local level. However these new financing ways risk to increase the cost (including the cost of the products) and the weight for low income people. ; La politique ...

International audience ; At first the concept of trading is reminded: principle, fields of application, interest – notably economic efficiency (that is to say cost minimization to reach an objective) – and limits, which deal with equity, administration, monitoring and transaction costs. The content of the European Union (EU) directive of the 20th of December 1994 on packaging and packaging wastes is reminded, in particular its quantitative objectives for recovery and recycling; moreover in 2004 a new directive has set more ambitious objectives.Towards these objectives, tradings may be applied at different levels and between various categories of packagings, materials, "agents" and products chains:* trading between the EU states members, with free negotiation or with a system which is managed by a EU authority;* trading within a country between households packaging and commercial or industrial packaging, with the same or different objectives for the two categories;* trading between the packaging materials, with the same or different objectives for the materials;* moreover the packaging chain concerns different categories of "agents": producers of materials, manufacturers of packaging, packers or fillers, distributors, retailers and consumers; in some countries the responsibility is put on a category of agents, whilst in other countries it is a "shared" responsibility; and the chains concern categories of materials or products; the – complex – case of trading in the United Kingdom is evoked;* moreover towards the aim of (a high level of) environmental protection, the scope may be enlarged to other possible tradings by considering the objectives of other EU directives: on batteries, waste electrical and electronic equipment, end-of life vehicles, and so on.The interest and the limits of trading depend on the level, the "matter" and the mode of enforcement.As general conclusion, trading is not of course "the panacea", but some applications to packaging wastes (and other types of wastes) are possible and may be ...

International audience ; On the basis of statistics from Eurostat, the paper is relating at first for the year 2001 the main exchanges (flows) intra-EU and with the rest of the world (extra-EU), including by countries (for the main countries which are concerned), tonnage and value, by categories of recovered materials and products; a synoptic table is established, the results are summarized and first comments are provided. Moreover the evolution from 1995 to 2001 is related.The available data (even if their reliability is questionable) allow to bring to the fore structural characteristics and some changes:– the part of the metals is paramount (nearly 80%): ferrous in tonnage and value and non-ferrous in value; wastepaper is another important material in the exchanges;– the trade balance with the rest of the world which was in deficit in 1995 has become in excess: it remains in deficit for the metals but has become in excess or the excess increases for most of the other materials and products, due to increasing exports;– concerning the metals, EU imports mainly from other European (extra-EU) countries, while it exports (mainly non-ferrous) to Asia, notably China;– Asia (in particular China) is the major destination for the exports of wastepaper and plastics too;– the textiles show a contrasted picture: exports of old clothes but imports of wiping rags (by-products from sorting old clothes);– EU exports used and retreaded tyres;– EU exports mainly to less developed countries; the exchanges with North America and Japan (mainly imports)are weak.The objectives of the second part of the paper are to go deeper into the analyses and to try to explain the exchanges: do they confirm the main theories of international trade? To what extent is EU appearing as an economic entity? Moreover the effects of some of these exchanges are questioned and some prospective views are provided.The essay to explain the causes of the exchanges has permitted to point out the possible influence of some factors: the scarcity of some natural ...

Recycling helps to limit or slow down the creation of entropy of the material system; however, full recycling appears unrealistic, in particular due to physical degradation of the material.The article aims to show that very high recycling rates can only be achieved through "loop" recycling, as opposed to "cascading" recycling. Examples of this are the cases of a few materials: firstly, the case of cardboard paper in 2000 at European level. In addition, plastics and, very succinctly, aluminium. In addition, the case of glass refers to an article already published in Waste, Sciences and Techniques No 13, 1994.However, for a more comprehensive view, the analysis will have to incorporate the energy, environmental, economic and social balances. ; International audience A limit to sustainable development could be the exhaustion of some natural resources. A counterpoint is represented by a global closed-loop replenishing system, but real cycles cannot be completely closed. Concerning material systems a factor of entropy lies in losses of physical properties. However recycling is a way to reduce or slow up entropy of material systems. To reach very high recycling rates, loop recycling, and not only cascade recycling, is needed.Cases of some materials provide illustration : at first the case of paper (and cardboard) for the year 2000 at an European level (on the basis of data from the European Recovery Paper Council). The case of plastics is surveyed too ; by comparison with paper, their recycling rates are low ; however not only mechanical recycling but also chemical (feedstock) recycling and energy recovery have to be taken into account. Another case is aluminium, with a high recycling rate, and the case of glass has been considered previously (Déchets, Sciences et Techniques n° 13, 1994).For a global view, the logic in terms of material entropy would have to be supplemented by energy and environmental balances and economic and social aspects. ; Recycling helps to limit or slow down the creation of entropy of the ...