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In 2017, global plastic production reached 348 million tonnes. Despite growing concerns about the environmental challenges associated with both plastic production and plastic waste, recent estimates suggest that plastic production and subsequent waste is expected to double by the year 2035 (European Commission, 2018). To help reduce the amount of plastic waste that litters the oceans and damages the environment, the European Union has recently commissioned a study about the feasibility of levying a tax on plastic products (New Economic Foundation for the Rethink Plastic Alliance, 2018). However, very few academic articles currently exist that critically examine the arguments for or against a plastic tax and thereby enlighten government and regulators on the subject. This chapter investigates whether plastic taxes can be used as an economic disincentive for plastic products and explores its advantages and disadvantages within a circular economy. It explores whether a plastic tax is the right economic instrument to limit the use of plastics, generate design and technical innovations for bio-based materials and degradable/recyclable plastics, create other economic incentives to optimize the value of plastic and its waste collection, and increase public awareness and responsibility. We find that a plastic tax may be a suitable solution as it is likely to influence the design, production, consumption, and waste sectors if designed properly. Yet, the tax should be carefully implemented and combined with other instruments to obtain the desired outcomes and reduce the occurrence of unfavorable side effects.

In moving towards sustainable wastes management, the UK Government has adopted a wastes hierarchy. This hierarchy sets out clearly the priorities for sustainable resource use and wastes management: it ought to be the guiding principle of private and public policy, with the emphasis placed strongly on reducing the amount of raw material used. The House of Commons Environment, Transport & Regional Affairs Committee has noted a pressing need to promote wastes minimisation within industrial and commercial sectors and has recommended the introduction of penalties and incentives to encourage industrial wastes minimisation. Despite this, in the food and retailing sector only around 25 per cent of companies were found to operate wastes minimisation programmes. This paper aims to demonstrate the benefits of wastes minimisation, in both financial and environmental terms, for the food and drink sector. Large multiprocess food and drink companies have found they can make annual savings of greater than one per cent of turnover by implementing wastes minimisation strategies.

Corruption in the public sector has and always will continue to be a thorn in the side of any government throughout the world. Irrespective of what control measures are put in place, corruption remains a problem in many respects. It undermines the authority and the credibility of the government and its employees, it has an effect on the economic balance of the country and it plays a major role in the spread of economic crimes in general.

In the food and retailing sector only 25 per cent of companies were found to operate waste minimisation programmes. The benefits of waste minimisation are well proven in both financial and environmental terms. Large food companies have found they can make savings of millions of pounds by implementing waste minimisation strategies.

This study aims to provide a review of brownfield policy and the emerging sustainable development agenda in the UK, and to examine the development industry's (both commercial and residential) role and attitudes towards brownfield regeneration and contaminated land.

The paper analyses results from a two‐stage survey of commercial and residential developers carried out in mid‐2004, underpinned by structured interviews with 11 developers.

The results suggest that housebuilding on brownfield is no longer the preserve of specialists, and is now widespread throughout the industry in the UK. The redevelopment of contaminated sites for residential use could be threatened by the impact of the EU Landfill Directive. The findings also suggest that developers are not averse to developing on contaminated sites, although post‐remediation stigma remains an issue. The market for warranties and insurance continues to evolve.

The survey is based on a sample which represents nearly 30 per cent of UK volume housebuilding. Although the response in the smaller developer groups was relatively under‐represented, non‐response bias was not found to be a significant issue. More research is needed to assess the way in which developers approach brownfield regeneration at a local level.

The research suggests that clearer Government guidance in the UK is needed on how to integrate concepts of sustainability in brownfield development and that EU policy, which has been introduced for laudable aims, is creating tensions within the development industry. There may be an emphasis towards greenfield development in the future, as the implications of the Barker review are felt.

This is a national survey of developers' attitudes towards brownfield development in the UK, following the Barker Review, and highlights key issues in UK and EU policy layers.

Economic and market-based instruments are not “the” answer for nature-based solutions (NBS) in cities, but they are “part” of the answer. Regulatory instruments are needed when specific behaviors must be avoided. Voluntary instruments may be effective, especially at the local scale, but do not often guarantee the pursued performance result. Economic instruments, if well designed, implemented, and used, often have a comparative advantage in terms of efficiency and performance. They are also a source of funding for financing NBS. Too many policy experts and decision-makers are ready to propose public expenditure and subsidies, including for urban policies, and for policies in favor of natural capital, ecosystems services, and biodiversity. Yet, they too often forget to indicate where the revenues to finance the initiatives must come from, however excellent and ambitious they might be. Without using also economic instruments in the policy portfolio, many objectives for sustainable cities will be much more difficult to achieve, especially in the perspective of the Paris Agreement on climate change and of the UN Agenda 2030 with its Sustainable Development Goals.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze e-waste management systems in Germany, Switzerland, Japan and India and benchmark best practices in the Indian scenario.

The first part of the research paper focuses on the description of e-waste management systems in the above-mentioned countries using a case study analysis approach while the second part analyzes, evaluates and compares e-waste management systems performance based on seven performance indicators using a five-point scale. Finally, the RADAR chart approach is used to benchmark the best practices of e-waste management in these countries in the Indian scenario.

The study finds that India is lagging far behind from Germany, Switzerland, and Japan in e-waste management despite being the fifth largest e-waste generator across the globe. India must adopt best practices followed in these nations like a dedicated agency to oversee and coordinate the e-waste management, coordination among different value chain partners involved in e-waste management, development of infrastructure to collect and process e-waste, monitoring and control of all processes and stakeholders, etc.

The study suggests the solution to the loopholes in the Indian e-waste management system by adopting the collection, recycling and reporting mechanism followed in German, Swiss and the Japanese e-waste management system. There is a dire need to improve e-waste management systems in India as only 5 percent of e-waste is processed through the organized sector.

E-waste is increasing at an alarming rate and most of e-waste in India is being handled by the unorganized sector, where rudimentary methods are used to process e-waste severely damaging the environment and health of workers. The unorganized market employs 0.5m child laborers. Hence, routing the e-waste to the organized sector will result in social benefits by putting a check on unsafe practices and will create green jobs.

This paper’s contribution lies in extracting the best practices followed in nations excelling in e-waste management and recommend their implications in the Indian scenario. This study is aimed at all the stakeholders, but especially at policy-makers and producers, who have the onus to tackle the e-waste problem.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of “adaptable buildings” to respond to future potential built environment changes in sustainable way.

A detailed literature review and a case study were undertaken to identify the life cycle changes of typical buildings over a period of more than 100 years. In total, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted among construction industry professionals to identify how adaptable buildings enhance sustainability within the built environment. Case study data were analysed through a Morphological Analysis, and the interview data were analysed through discourse analysis.

Out of the many adaptable features, the results revealed “change of use” as the dominant trend within the buildings of the selected urban cluster. More than 60 per cent of buildings have changed their original use during their life cycle. Around 10 per cent of them have changed their use frequently (every six year) during the last 20 years thereby signalling an increase in the rate of change. The positive contribution of adaptable buildings in achieving sustainability in terms of economic, social and environmental considerations, were confirmed through the analysis of semi-structured interviews.

This paper reports a longitudinal study spanning over 100 years, exploring the extent of building adaptation within a selected cluster of Liverpool city centre, UK. The study further confirms the need to incorporate adaptability as a key criterion when designing buildings. The increased rate at which “change of use” has occurred further reinforces the need. Lack of a track record of designing for reuse makes this an interesting challenge for the construction industry, hence likely to have significant implications for policy/strategy formulation.

Provides an overview of the current regulatory environment pertaining to the valuations of US landfill sites. Addresses changes in US regulations and how they relate to closure and post‐closure costs as well as the owners′ financial responsibility after closure. Concludes that the methodology of valuing landfills by using comparison of similar sales becomes less useful with the introduction of the new regulations.

The paper is intended to examine the performance of a group of UK shopping centres in regard to waste production and disposal over periods of two, three and four years.

The method adopted is the collection and analysis of data relating to waste production and disposal. The data was collected by and obtained from individual shopping centres before analysis.

The sector as a whole did not show a decreasing level of waste production although some individual centres did perform well. In general, as one might expect, the more professional the approach to waste management, the better were the results.

More data was available for the shorter periods analysed as many centres have only just started recording waste data. The project could be usefully revisited in five years.

The paper shows that investing in waste management does produce positive results. The effect of the landfill tax is not certain but additional incentives may be necessary to drive an industry wide improvement.

The paper represents a new and an independent review of performance in the shopping centre sector.