Ambition meets reality: what remains of the zero-waste vision?

"We are now really moving Luxembourg away from a throwaway society towards a zero-waste society." The ambitions of Claude Turmes (déi gréng), Minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, were large when he took a stand on the circular economy package in Parliament in April 2022. Prior to this, the spokespersons of the various political groups and factions had spent more than two hours discussing the five bills. With the comprehensive reform of waste legislation, the coalition of DP, LSAP and the Greens went further than the European directives, which they had to transpose into national law.

In the context of the breakthrough at the Paris Climate Conference seven years earlier, an unprecedented civil mobilisation, for example in the form of the Fridays for Future protests, but also the Covid pandemic, which led to consumer habits being questioned and promoted more sustainable behaviour, the Greens, spurred on by their brilliant electoral success in the 2018 general election, obviously saw fertile ground for this.

But just a few years later, the wind seems to have shifted. Companies are demanding a reduction in bureaucracy and regulations. This corrective were necessary to prevent economic activity from being stifled. On the other hand, environmental and climate activists fear complete deregulation in the face of an alarming loss of biodiversity and are ringing the alarm bells.