Waste generation and the economic cycle in European countries. Has the Great Recession decoupled waste and economic development?

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between waste generation and economic development for a sample of European countries. In contrast to previous studies that have considered this relation to be stable over time, we apply methods for testing the presence of structural breaks located at unknown periods. This methodology provides robust evidence against the stability of the relationship, finding ruptures in the so-called dot.com crisis, in the early 2000s, and in episodes related to the Great Recession. Once these breaks are considered, we observe that waste generation shows considerable dependence on the evolution of the economy for those countries with the lowest per capita income levels. This suggests the existence of a trade-off between convergence policies and those aimed at avoiding environmental degradation, suggesting the need to maintain and reinforce environmental policies in the EU.

Keywords: Circular economy; Great Recession; Green growth; Waste decoupling.