In heavily regulated business environments, such as the waste sector, we can usually see what is coming down the political and legislative pipeline. We can engage with consultations and track proposals as they develop. Business has time to reflect and react in a measured way. Civil society, in comparison, reacts at high speed to the changing world, information, events and views, and is harder to predict. It is increasingly demanding more from businesses than regulation in the environmental space. Through protest, litigation, social media, consumer spending, shareholder activism and other avenues of pressure, civil society is driving the environmental policy agenda, impacting on business strategy and investment decisions – and, in some cases, becoming a quasi-regulator.

In this article for Circular magazine, Dentons' Laura Mackett discusses the impact of civil society on the waste and resources sector, exploring key trends across a wide range of areas from packaging and food waste to NGO action, financial reporting, climate change litigation, modern slavery, micro-plastics, marine ecosystems and human health.

Download the article here.

Reproduced by kind permission of CIWM and CIWM Enterprises Ltd and originally featured in Circular, May/June 2019. Visit here for the latest industry news and opinions and to sample an issue of Circular.

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