Ideas matter and in public policy ideas are the currency that matters.
Public policy adopts good ideas and sometimes poor ideas. Why some ideas are taken up and others not is the subject of academic debate.
I think that a major reason is because someone turns up at the right time with a convincing enough case so that it is taken up. Often, there is no alternative because the other side did not think ‘ideas’ were important enough to write out, or more often, have no idea how public policy is made.
Think Tanks are a vehicle for idea generation. They look long and hard at tough ‘issues’ and come forward, often ahead of time, with ‘solutions’. The Resources Commission is Germany’s Environment Agency think tank. It is served by an impressive panel of Independent experts advise them.
They have a number of years working on how to deliver a resource efficient society. In August 2017, they published a report on the ‘promotion of product resource efficiency and recyclability’.
In the report , they outline a number of recommendations. Many of the requirements, such as information, exist in the EU and elsewhere,.
Most interesting is “Product Labelling Body”, could work to promote the resource-efficiency and re-use and recyclability of products, the specific information that the Labeling Body should request’
The report is responding to a long-standing public policy discussion. To date, no convincing ‘alternative concept’ has been clearly put forward. Into this gap, alternatives will be put forward, and in all likelihood, over time, taken up.
The report deserves reading. It gives a good idea as to what could well happen.