French Solid Waste Partnership

Position Paper on Circular Economy and a 2050 Vision

Lucia Lopez — 2026-06-04T15:13:45Z

Circular economy is not an end in itself. Its ultimate goal is not to “increase recycling” or “close loops”, but to build a future where value creation is decoupled from environmental bads —including resource extraction, and waste generation.

In public debate, circular economy is often reduced to recycling. However, recent international work – in particular the ISO 59004 norm, adopted in 2024, which breaks down the “10R” principle* into 13 actions ordered according to the life cycle – shows that a complete circular economy begins well before recycling and continues well beyond it. Refusing and avoiding some products or uses, rethinking the needs, adapting production through eco-design, reducing resource consumption, reusing, repairing, reconditioning, remanufacturing, repurposing, recycling, recovering energy, and even recovering materials stored in historic landfill sites: these actions form a coherent scale where recycling and energy recovery are at the bottom, once all the levers of reduction, moderation, sustainability, reuse and repair have been activated.

These coordinated actions only make sense when viewed in the context of the three objectives of circular economy: to reduce environmental and health impacts, to maintain an economy that creates value and jobs, and to ensure our societies' resource sovereignty and resilience.

Given the imperative of ecological, economic and social transition, the French Solid Waste Partnership (FSWP) is contributing to international discussions on what a circular economy could ultimately look like in 2050, both in France and around the world.

Read the full Position Paper about Circular Economy and a 2050 Vision.

Position Paper: Waste-to-Energy Facilities

Lucia Lopez — 2025-11-28T12:37:59Z

In the context of ongoing debates on energy recovery from waste, the French Solid Waste Partnership (FSWP) is publishing a position paper on the role of waste-to-energy (WtE) facilities within waste and resource management systems. This document is primarily intended for public decision-makers and international institutions.

This position papers recalls that the primary mission of the public waste management service is control waste streams in order to minimize their impacts on health and the environment, in line with the Basel Convention.

It reiterates the waste treatment hierarchy: first, reducing waste generation; then recovering the material contained in waste; and finally, recovering the energy contained in residual waste.

From this perspective, WtE facilities are presented as the ultimate step in the circular economy, relevant in systems in which waste streams are well known and controlled and when installations are dimensioned in line with materials circularity ambitions.

The paper calls on international institutions to support the established waste treatment hierarchy, to empower local decision-makers with the choice of the most appropriate solutions, while ensuring compliance with Environmentally Sound Management of waste.

Advocacy for the 2024 European elections

Pauline — 2024-06-19T14:06:47Z

Available in french.
We call on the heads of delegation of the parties elected at the European elections to raise waste management to the highest international level. Improving waste management is a necessity in the context of the Agenda 2030; its implementation depends on stronger European advocacy.