Recycling

Abstract

The environmental problems generated by our consumer societies require immediate measures that respect the principles of long term sustainability. However, in response to the rising amount of wastes (on average, per capita arising municipal wastes increased by 26 between 1970 and the late 1980s in the OECD) various (mostly end-of-pipe) waste management strategies have been advocated, while a real questioning of what constitutes 'wastes' is still desperately needed