A world without waste

For many years, the go-to solution for getting rid of waste was to burn it. This is still the case in many EU countries, such as Denmark, Germany and Sweden.

But that idea is now being challenged by an anti-incineration, "zero waste" wave, which arose in the 1990s in the small Tuscan town of Capannori.

A primary school teacher, Rossano Ercolini, led protests against a planned incinerator in the vicinity. Residents gathered at town hall meetings to talk of alternative ways to deal ...