This article was taken from the March 2016 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
When Ida Auken was Denmark's environment minister between 2011 and 2014, she put in place policies that aim to double the amount of recycled household waste by 2022. She didn't call the plans "waste plans" but "resource plans".
Auken espouses the doctrine of the "circular economy", and aims to cut the amount of rubbish that gets incinerated in Denmark. The country generates more rubbish per capita than almost any other EU country and around 80 per cent is destroyed. Now Danes are starting to sort their trash, and garden and food waste is collected to produce biogas and compost. If all goes well, by 2022, 820,000 fewer tonnes of waste will be incinerated every year.
However, outdated regulations still stand in the way: "If you have five lemons in the same bag and one goes bad, you aren't allowed to take it out and sell the rest," Auken says. That's where policymakers can help. "Regulations need to start focusing on resources and recycling to drive behavioural change. Setting political goals works as long as they are achievable within five to eight years and as long as politicians stick to them."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
