The Multilevel Dynamics of EU and U.S. Environmental Policy: A Case Study of Electronic Waste

This chapter compares and connects environmental policy in the EU and the U.S. It analyses policies addressing the environmental and human health impact of waste electrical and electronic products (e-waste). The observations made in the case of e-waste policy exemplify some of the broader dynamics in transatlantic environmental policy. Although the EU and the U.S. have introduced e-waste policies, they differ significantly in both scope and approach. The EU pioneered policies addressing the treatment of e-waste in the 1990s and early 2000s. The U.S. followed shortly afterwards with a number of voluntary efforts at the federal level and legislation at the state level. This chapter presents and compares the e-waste policies on either side of the Atlantic. It offers an explanation for transatlantic regulatory differences and argues that there is a connection between the developments in the EU and the U.S. Regardless of the observed differences, EU e-waste policy affected policy-making in the U.S.status: publishe