Following the Commission’s publication of a Communication on the role of waste-to-energy in the circular economy on 26 January 2017, the European Policy Centre (EPC) organised a Policy Dialogue that brought different stakeholders together to discuss energy recovery from waste practices. The discussion focused on the circular economy perspective and waste-to-energy’s place in the EU’s waste management framework, tackling issues such as the waste hierarchy, recycling targets and how waste-to-energy can contribute to the transition to the circular economy, but also looked at how these processes can contribute to achieving some of the objectives of the Energy Union, such as secure energy supply, promoting renewables and the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling subsectors.

Speakers included: Romain Pardo, Policy Analyst at the EPC, Veronica Vecchio, Policy Officer, Resource Efficiency, Secretariat-General, European Commission, Ella Stengler, Managing Director, Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, Frédéric Aguesse, Director, Waste-to-Energy Technical Center, SUEZ, Joan Marc Simon, Director, Zero Waste Europe, Sofie Bouteligier, Policy Adviser, International Policy Unit, OVAM