In the last two decades, especially at the level of the European Union, a framework has been established for the management of municipal waste that aims at a more environmentally friendly management, with the aim of using resources that can be used from the waste, to stop the excessive extraction of resources from nature. This management is the focus of the circular economy philosophy which, apart from the level of waste management, intervenes mainly in the production model, in a direction of producing products with more use of recyclable materials that require less raw materials for their production, therefore fewer natural raw materials. In terms of municipal waste management, the objectives set at the EU level for the member states are the overall reduction of produced waste, the increase of recycling rates in municipal waste (where recycling is also the separate collection and treatment of bio-waste) and clearly reducing the percentage of waste that goes to landfill. After evaluating the findings, institutional interventions are proposed, as well as practices that industries can follow to achieve better management of their waste. Whether this will have a positive effect on their efficiency and profitability is a question related to many other factors and can be approached in future research.

Study of an existing waste plant at Epirus region-Greece was performed to examine in practice the equipment that is used for recycling, waste management, energy production, as well as the parameters administration has to monitor to ensure compliance with legislation.