Propose new...

Use of economic instruments

It is best practice to use economic instruments, to steer the behaviour of citizens and organisations generating waste towards more environmentally friendly results. Economic instruments can support:

  • reducing the amount of waste generated or reducing the proportion of hazardous waste;
  • encouraging preparation for reuse and recycling of waste; decreasing incineration and landfilling;
  • improving product design (e.g. encouraging the use of recyclable materials in products).

The economic instruments related to waste management cover both incentives (positive economic signals, e.g. discounts, reward vouchers) and disincentives (negative economic signals, e.g. taxes, fees, penalties) and can take the form of:

  • taxes and tax modulation, e.g. waste disposal tax, landfill tax, incineration tax;
  • product levies (e.g. on plastic bags or construction aggregates);
  • waste pricing, such as unitbased pricing and pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) schemes;
  • depositrefund schemes;
  • extended producer responsibility schemes;
  • others, e.g. tradable permits, recycling subsidies, VAT exemptions

Full content

Indicators

Benchmarks