Postgraduate Course: Waste Law and the Circular Economy (EFIE11430)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Various waste streams are increasingly given value by law to ensure a transition to the circular economy and to combat pollution, ecosystem depletion and overproduction/consumption. The course examines the complex regulatory frameworks needed to organise the conversion of effluence (waste) into affluence (wealth). From textiles made of recycled plastics to biodiversity conservation born out of decommissioned oil rigs, waste is being reimagined as a carrier of future abundance. This course explores these legal transformations of waste laws through a series of case studies and interactive activities. |
| Course description |
This course focuses on the ways State and non-State actors participate in transboundary waste management to achieve their circular economy objectives. The course uses recent case studies to support the course material. Case studies may include, but are not restricted to: extended producer responsibility in the textile sector; the right to repair in relation to patented products; the plastic pollution treaty negotiations; the turn to circular models for future outer space activities.
Your learning experience will include:
- An introduction to the global challenges in regulating a circular economy transition.
- Simulating multilateral and multi-stakeholder deliberations to design international policy.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute delivers many of its courses in hybrid mode. This means that you may have some online students joining sessions for this course. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: in some cases, students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- All presentations, and whole class discussions will be recorded (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details).
- You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 14,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) Group Written Contribution to a UN Circular Economy Accord (65%)
4,000 word group assessment.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 3, 4,
2) Individual Reflection on Treaty Process (25%)
This can be multimodal, i.e. a blog post (approx. 500-700 words), a podcast, or a video reflection.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 5
3) Peer Assessment (10%)
Peer Assessment to reflect on group work. Students consider the extent to which the team members accomplished the goals of group activities in preparation for the assignment. Based on 5 criteria: Participation, Responsibility, Contribution, Respect, Attitude.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 4 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Formative feedback will be given after the group presentations on their treaty negotiation progress. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the principles and current issues of transboundary waste law and the circular economy.
- Demonstrate originality and creativity in the development and application of new knowledge, understanding and practices.
- Understand how to engage effectively in a multilateral governance forum.
- Collaborate with others to bring about new thinking in waste law and circular economy.
- Communicate waste law ideas to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge/expertise.
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Reading List
Select Bibliography Only:
M. Anantharaman, Recycling class: the contradictions of inclusion in urban sustainability, MIT Press (2024).
J. Hoernig, 'Towards 'secondary raw material' as a legal category' 2022 Environmental Law Review, 24(2), 111-1.
F. Lesniewska and K. Steenmans, Circular Economy and the Law - Bringing Justice into the Frame, Routledge (2023).
P. O'Hare and D. Rams, Circular economies in an unequal world, Bloomsbury (2024)
S. Thomas, 'Law and the circular economy' Journal of Business Law, 2019:1 62-83.
Select chapters from: The Routledge Handbook of Waste, Resources and the Circular Economy. Eds. T. Tudor & C. Dutra. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429346347
- Ch16, Mahon, P. 'The role of policy in creating a more circular economy'
- Ch18, Sheeran, P. 'Economic and trade considerations of circular economy approaches.'
L. Wishart and Jan Bebbington, 'Zero waste governance: a Scottish case study', 2020 International Journal of Sustainable Development 23.1-2: 128-147. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Space,Textiles,Batteries,Energy,Waste,Industry,State,Economy,United Nations,Simulation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Michael Picard
Tel:
Email: m.picard@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Abby Gleave
Tel: (0131 6)51 1337
Email: abby.gleave@ed.ac.uk |
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