The Zero Waste Alliance proposes implementing 10 measures to reduce waste and protect people’s health, including more reuse and repair, less over-packaging, and robust controls to ensure that environmental obligations do not end up as mere paper.
The Zero Waste Alliance demands that waste laws be enforced
The Zero Waste Alliance calls for the implementation of 10 measures so that the upcoming legislature reduces waste, promotes reuse, and safeguards everyone’s health. Their appeal highlights a political contradiction: environmental obligations are approved that are of little use if their enforcement is not monitored and there are no consequences for those who violate them.
The document has been circulated by Friends of the Earth and calls on administrations and companies to be accountable. Among its priorities are preventing unnecessary packaging, facilitating reusable alternatives, strengthening controls to prevent hazardous substances, making repair more accessible, as well as publishing results and sanctioning infringements.
The Zero Waste Alliance has presented a very coherent demand: production and consumption conditions must change, because citizens need durable and affordable options. You cannot ask the people to accept an environmental commitment when repairing is extremely difficult or when nearby and viable alternatives for reusing are lacking.
Preventing waste requires acting before trash appears
The Zero Waste Alliance places reuse and prevention at the forefront of its 10-point proposal. It calls to combat over-packaging, promote bulk sales, the use of returnable containers and refilling, and to ensure adequate funding and support for small retailers. It also requests inspections to prevent hazardous substances, especially in food packaging.
Environmental logic requires looking at the product before it is discarded. Design to last, use less material and enable repeated uses changes the problem at its source. A policy focused solely on collecting waste arrives after part of resource consumption has already occurred.
Spain has concrete legal objectives. Article 17 of Law 7/2022 sets to reduce the weight of generated waste by 13% by 2025 and 15% by 2030, compared to 2010. These are prevention targets; not recycling percentages or reductions demonstrated by their adoption.
The government, the autonomous communities, and local authorities must explain their competences, actions, and results. Oversight requires comparable data and defined periods to distinguish real improvement from a balance built on incomplete indicators.
Repairing must be an accessible option, not a barrier-filled race
The Zero Waste Alliance calls for incentives, spare parts, and support for independent repairers. The approach aligns with European rules on repair, conceived to promote durable products and reduce waste. Its implementation should translate into usable services, with understandable information about prices and terms.
The European framework contemplates that manufacturers repair, at the consumer’s request, products subject to specific reparability requirements, except when it proves impossible. It includes examples such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, or mobile phones. It does not impose an indiscriminate obligation for any item sold: the scope depends on the goods and applicable rules.
It also anticipates free repairs or repairs at a reasonable price and carried out within a reasonable timeframe. Access to parts should accompany this objective, preventing the theoretical possibility of repair from disappearing behind practical barriers. The public priority should be the removal of proven obstacles. Awareness campaigns lose their impact if consumers cannot access concrete solutions when a product fails.
More inspection and transparency: responsibility does not end at the moment of sale
The Zero Waste Alliance demands oversight and clear accountability. That demand must be translated into procedures capable of detecting non-compliance and correcting it. To assess environmental policy, it matters to know what is inspected, how results are verified, and what responses and penalties are applied to proven infringements.
Management targets do not replace prevention goals either. Law 7/2022 set that by 2025 at least 55% by weight of preparation for reuse and recycling of municipal waste should rise to 60% by 2030. Reducing generation and better waste management are distinct obligations that should be evaluated separately.
A European figure shows that, when the consumer chooses to repair within the warranty, the new rules foresee extending the seller’s liability by at least 12 months. That protection makes durability a concrete right. The Zero Waste Alliance demands progress toward precisely that economy in which the lifespan of products is longer, there are administrations that monitor compliance with regulations and companies that comply and respond.
