Circular

Economy

Natalia Matting
Michał Kubicki
European Commission
DG Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Unit Clean Technologies and
Products
From a Linear Economy…
… to a Circular Economy
 What is the Circular Economy?

• Maintaining the value of products, materials and

resources in the economy for as long as possible
while minimising waste generation

• To boost our economy and competitiveness with

new business opportunities and innovative
products and services.

• For economic, social and environmental gains

 Links with Juncker Priorities

Protec'ng the environment and maintaining our

compe''veness have to go hand-in-hand: both are
about a sustainable future

Jobs, Growth Democratic

Energy Union and Change Better
and Climate
Investment Regulation

Circular Economy
 The Circular Economy Package

• Adopted by the Commission on 2nd December 2015

Action Plan List of Follow-up Legislative

Communication Initiatives (Annex) proposal on waste
 Objectives of the new Package

• Synergies between environment and business

agendas
– Preserve resources while creating business opportunities
– Closer links to other key EU priorities: climate and energy,
jobs and growth, investment, innovation, social, industrial
competitiveness

• Propose concrete and ambitious action where EU

intervention has high added value
– e.g. long-term vision and targets on waste management;
internal market rules for products; environment and
consumers protection; regulatory obstacles or enforcement
issues; innovation and investments
Action Plan
Areas
of Action
 Production
Objectives Key Actions
• Incentives to the • Foster reparability, durability, and
circular design of recyclability in Ecodesign (e.g. TV screens)
products
• Innovative and • Promotion of best practices for waste
resource efficient management and resource efficiency in
production industrial sectors.
processes.
• Facilitate industrial symbiosis
 Consumption
Objectives Key Actions
• Reuse and repair of • Develop rules to encourage reuse activities (e.g.
products to avoid waste proposal)
waste. • Work to ensure availability of spare parts
(Ecodesign?)
• Empower consumers • Better enforce guarantees and action on false
with reliable green claims
information on • Emphasize CE criteria in Green Public
environmental Procurement.
impact of products.
• Independent testing programme to assess
possible planned obsolescence.
• Better labelling: EU Eco-label, Environmental
Footprint.
 Waste management
Objectives Key Actions
• Waste management • Revised legislative package on waste Work
systems, with Member States to improve waste
addressing the management, incl. to avoid overcapacities in
existing residual waste treatment (e.g. incineration
implementation and Mechanical-biological treatment)
gap.
• Ensure that Cohesion Policy contributions are
• Long-term vision guided by the EU waste hierarchy.
and drive
investments.
 Market for secondary raw materials
Objectives Key Actions
• Increase the use of secondary • Develop quality standards for
raw materials. secondary raw materials.

• Increase the use of recycled • Revised EU regulation on

nutrients and the reuse of fertilizers.
treated wastewater.
• Legislative proposal on minimum
• Safely manage the risks of requirements for reused water
chemicals of concern.
• Analysis on the interface between
• Improve knowledge of material chemicals, product, and waste
stocks and flows. legislation.

• EU-wide electronic system for

cross-border transfers of waste.
 Innovation & Investment
Objectives Key Actions
• Right environment • €650 million Horizon 2020 initiative on
for innovation and ‘Industry 2020 in the CE.
investments.
• Pilot "innovation deals" to address potential
regulatory obstacles for innovators.

• Targeted outreach of EU funding

• New platform for financing CE with EIB and

national promotional banks.
Priority
Sectors
 Plastics

Objectives Key Actions

• Provide a strategy • Adopt a specific strategy on plastics including
to improve marine litter.
sustainability of
plastics throughout • A more ambitious target for the recycling of
its lifecycle plastic packaging in the legislative proposal
• Increase efficiency on waste.
in recycling - less
than 25% of plastic
waste collected is
recycled, and about
50% goes to
landfill.
 Food waste

Objectives Key Actions

• Reach Sustainable • Develop an EU methodology to measure food
Development Goal waste.
to halve food waste
by 2030 – today • Create a platform for the SDG on food waste
around 100 million and to share best practice and results
tonnes of food are achieved.
wasted annually in
the EU. • Clarify EU legislation relating to waste, food
and feed, and facilitate food donation.

• Improve the use and understanding of date

marking along the food chain (e.g."best
before" label).
 Critical Raw Materials

Objectives Key Actions

• Increasing efficient • Encourage recovery of CRMs, and prepare a
use and recovery of report on best practices and options for
CRMs. further action at the EU level.
• Encourage action by Member States.
 Construction & Demolition

Objectives Key Actions

• Identify and • Ensure recovery of valuable resources and
increase recovery of adequate waste management in the
valuable materials construction and demolition sector, as well as
facilitate assessing the environmental
performance of buildings

• Develop pre-demolition guidelines to boost

high-value recycling as well as voluntary
recycling protocols aimed to improve quality
of and build confidence.
 Biomass & bio-based products

Objectives Key Actions

• Support an efficient • Promote an efficient use of bio-based
use of wood and resources through a series of measures, such
bio-based products as the promotion of the cascading use of
woody biomass and support to innovation in
• Increase recycling the bio-economy
of bio-waste
• New target for recycling wood packaging and
a provision to ensure the separate collection
of bio-waste

• Report and possible revision of the Bio-

economy Strategy
Main
elements
of the
legislative
proposal
 New targets municipal- waste recycling

60% • Separate collection

extended to
50% biowaste
40%
• One calculation
30% method by 2025

20%
• Time extension for 7
10% MS recycling less
than 20% in 2013
0%
2014 (current Target 2020 Target 2025 Target 2030
status) (exis8ng) (1 method) (1 method) • Review clause
(4 methods) (2025) to consider
more stringent
% Prep. For reuse and recycling targets
New targets municipal- waste landfilling

35%
• By 2030 : max 10%
30%
landfilling of MSW
25%
• 5 years derogation for
20% the same 7 MS as for
the recycling rate
15%

10% • Review clause (2025)

to consider more
5% stringent targets
0%
2013 (reported) Objec8ve 2030

% Municipal waste in landfill

 New targets – packaging waste recycling

90%
80%
% Prep for resue and recycling

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Plas8c Wood Ferrous metal Aluminium Glass Paper and Overall
cardboard

Exis%ng targets Target 2025 Target 2030 2012 (latest data)

→ Clarification on measuring (same as for municipal waste)

→ Repeal of the recovery and max recycling targets
→ New target for aluminium
 Targets: Definition and Calculation Rules
Definitions:
• Municipal waste (OECD/Eurostat-based)
• Backfilling, construction and demolition waste,
(building on COM Decision 2011/753/EU)
• Food waste
• Preparation for reuse
Calculation rules:
• A single method
• Main rule: input to the final recycling
• Derogation: output of sorting operation if losses are < 10% and tracking
system is in place
New calculation rules to cover :
• Output of recognised re-use centres and products prepared for reuse by
deposit-refund schemes;
• Metal recycling from energy recovery
 Prevention

• Focus on food waste, textile, WEEE, furniture

• Measures to promote the use of recyclable, durable,

resource efficient products

• Target to be set at national level on disposed/incinerated

waste (max kg/inhab)
 Extended producer responsibility

Minimum requirements to be respected by MS when

developing and applying EPR, including:

• Definition of the roles and responsibilities of the actors

• Defining measurable targets and a reporting procedure
• Information, transparency, dialogue
• Full cost coverage
• Focus on monitoring by MS
• Link between the product's true end-of-life cost
and fees to be paid by producers
 Conclusions

• Ambitious and comprehensive package

• Waste legislation proposal now to be considered by

EU co-legislators

• Action Plan with EU actions for 2016-19