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Regulation, self‐regulation and environmental consensus: lessons from the UK packaging waste experience
Author(s) -
Eden Sally
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
business strategy and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.123
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1099-0836
pISSN - 0964-4733
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0836(199709)6:4<232::aid-bse114>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - status quo , legislation , government (linguistics) , environmental regulation , business , government regulation , politics , state (computer science) , compliance (psychology) , competition (biology) , public administration , public economics , public relations , industrial organization , economics , political science , law , market economy , psychology , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy , algorithm , china , computer science , ecology , biology
This paper uses the case study of UK packaging waste policy to illustrate the problems of developing environmental self‐regulation. In July 1993, the UK Secretary of State for the Environment ‘challenged’ British business to organise and run a self‐regulatory scheme to recover between 50 and 75 per cent of packaging waste by 2000. But the response was dogged by differences of opinion within business and a lack of political will from business and government. Consequently, the businesses approached to develop this scheme declared self‐regulation unworkable and lobbied government to introduce national legislation. This case study suggests that self‐regulation works best where it fits the status quo by formalising existing practices or encourages incremental change to those practices. Where major changes to the status quo are needed, self‐regulation may founder because it fails to bind together diverse sectors and companies which are differentially threatened by those changes and thereby fails to ensure voluntary compliance. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.