Preventing Environmental Damage from Products: An Analysis of the Policy and Regulatory Framework in Europe

How to tackle environmental damage from the throwaway society is one of the defining questions of the twenty-first century. By establishing a circular economy, we can encourage and support sustainable production and consumption. These essays by an international group of leading scholars from a range of disciplines analyse policies and legal instruments and challenge mainstream assumptions, from the choice of a policy mix to the actual effect of imposing standards on the market, and from corporate objectives and priorities to the use of precaution in assessing particularly harmful substances. Each chapter contributes to a better understanding of the current policy and regulatory framework in Europe and identifies the challenges and opportunities ahead. The book breaks new ground by examining how product policies can contribute to important objectives and visions, such as the aims of the circular economy. It is a must-read for researchers as well as for policymakers and practitioners.

1. Developing legislation to prevent environmental damage from products: Herculean but necessary task Hans Christian Bugge, Carl Dalhammar and Eleonore Maitre-Ekern; Part I. Structural Issues Associated with Regulating the Life-Cycle of Products: 2. Exploring the spaceship Earth: a circular economy for products Eleonore Maitre-Ekern; 3. Principles for the design of a policy framework to address product life-cycle impacts Michael Faure and Carl Dalhammar; 4. The harm of products and the need of information on inputs, production, use, and disposal Erling Eide; 5. Redefining agency theory to internalize environmental product externalities. A tentative proposal based on life-cycle thinking Beate Sjafjell; 6. Environmental measures as an obstacle to free movement of goods in the internal market Nicolas de Sadeleer; Part II. Challenges Related to the Application of European Product Law: 7. Dieselgate and the protection of the environment by public authorities Ludwig Kramer; 8. Energy efficiency regulations, market and behavioural failures, and standardization Carl Dalhammar, Jessika Luth Richter and Erika Machacek; 9. Regulating recyclability under the Ecodesign Directive: how can we achieve synergies between waste and product policies for electric and electronic equipment in order to promote recycling? Sahra Svensson and Carl Dalhammar; 10. Material recycling without hazardous substances - interplay of two policy streams and impacts on industry Naoko Tojo and Ake Thidell; 11. Complexities and conflicts in controlling dangerous chemicals: the case of regulating endocrine disruptors in EU law Nertila Kuraj; 12. Long-term market effects of green public procurement Charlotte Leire and Carl Dalhammar; Part III. Conclusion by the Editors: 13. Present and future challenges for Europe's environmental product policy Eleonore Maitre-Ekern, Hans Christian Bugge and Carl Dalhammar.