On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the first EU Waste Framework Directive, this colloquium brings together scholars (legal, management, social science, and more) and practitioners to reflect on fifty years of European waste laws and management. It will examine how the European regulatory framework has evolved, how it has been transposed into Member States, and how local actors have interpreted, adapted and contested it.

Particular attention will be given to tensions between:

1. EU harmonisation and territorial innovation; and
2. power dynamics between public, private and civil society actors.

The colloquium will look at the full range of geographical areas (local, regional, national, overseas and extra-European), waste streams (municipal and packaging waste, waste from electric and electronic equipment, textiles, construction and demolition, healthcare, etc.), policy instruments (Extended Producer Responsibility, Deposit-Refund System, Pay-As-You-Throw) and infrastructure (such as chemical recycling, incineration and landfilling).

It aims to assess past trajectories and collectively imagine the next fifty years of waste governance in Europe.

This event will take in English and in person only on 8 and 9 October. Buy your ticket (you will need to register by 27 September) and see the programme.