Abstract
In the last few years the environmental policy in Germany and other European countries has focused its attention more and more on waste and product policy. Used products are a major source of waste. The most recent action taken in Germany is the waste framework law (Kreislaufwirtschafts-
und Abfallgesetz) which has passed the German Parliament last year and will become fully enforced by 1996. There are several ways to reduce waste, and within an ecological management of materials flow, all of them must be pursued. Firstly waste avoidance by applying clean technologies in industrial
production, the development of easily recycable products, and cutting down on packaging. Secondly, use of new design and usage concepts for products to extend the time the products are used by the consumers. And thirdly, recycling of used products with recovery of raw materials for repeated
use in production. The opportunities for recycling were demonstrated recently by an initiative of the former German Environment Minister, Klaus Töpfer. He launched the draft of Takeback Decree for electronic waste. In spite of the fact that this decree has not yet come into force,
the initiative pushed the research and development of recycling technologies for electrical and electronic components enormously. A market of at least 3 billion DM for new services would arise with this decree in Germany. Recycling and environmental protection as a whole have become
major factors within the national economies. Germany's exports of environmentally benign goods amount to 35 billion DM yearly. Between 1975 and 1991, 420 billion DM were spent on national efforts to protect the environment. On the other hand, not more than 2 per cent of the production
costs in German industry are caused by environmental protection due to national policy in this field. There is no doubt that a cautious greening of national economies not only helps to safeguard the fundamentals of life for future generations, it should also be understood as an economic
opportunity.
Subject
Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous),Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
Cited by
1 articles.
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1. Literatur;Mitglieder des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen;2003