The concepts of ‘green economy’ and ‘sustainable consumption and production’ determine the direction of political and legal changes as the goals of the 2030 Agenda followed also by the European Union and its Member States. ‘Circular economy’ as an element of those concepts includes waste management and is a vital element of EU environmental policy. Turning waste into resources presents a multidimensional challenge. In the years 2015–2018, the European Commission conducted works on the changes in the community law on waste which will enable the enforcement of ‘circular economy’ goals. In May 2018, four directives which will significantly remodel the obligations of Member States in the scope of waste management were enacted. Also in 2018, the Commission announced new proposals, as well as law changes, emphasizing the problem of plastic waste.

2030 Agenda constitutes a comprehensive framework for sustainable development. Nevertheless, not all sustainable development goals properly match the most important utilitarian values (human life and health). It is especially noticeable in terms of disasters and crises, which commonly determine social security. The research objective is to indicate the placement of the values in the particular goals. The systematic literature review indicates 47 information sources. That enables an in-depth analysis of the goals and social security specification elements, highlighting the direct or indirect character of relevant relations. The gaps can be identified considering the social character of the goals, characteristic hazards, danger to human life, and health and urgency of the response. In most cases, the relations between the goals and the values are indirect. They can be improved with a potentially positive influence on sustainable development in all circumstances (including the most dangerous ones). The goals specification states many references for the improvement in a synergistic way respecting the most important utilitarian values, especially in zero hunger, good health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities, climate action, partnership for the goals.

Aporias of sustainable development

The article considers the aporias underlying the idea of sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda. The reports made for the Agenda show, on the one hand, that in recent years the number of people living in extreme poverty has significantly decreased, on the other hand, it turns out that the goals of sustainable development are implemented are faster and more effective in developed countries. In other words, we observe that despite the relative improvement in living conditions in the poorest countries of the global South, most of the profits still go to the wealthiest countries of the North, which get richer at the expense of the poor. The author concludes that the aporetic nature of the 2030 Agenda has been unintentionally expressed already in the preamble, where the idea of sustainable development is compared to modern Esperanto, thanks to which the activities of governments and business are to be integrated under the aegis of the United Nations, and notes that the vast majority of vocabulary in Esperanto comes from languages Western European, and the language is always governed by a specific axiology and social structure – it turns out that it is easier for Western countries to find the semantic, syntactic and, above all, pragmatic reality assumed in the Agenda.