Commissioner Vella presents the potential of the circular economy package to EU regions
European Commissioner for environment Karmenu Vella i addressed the commission for environment, climate change and energy (ENVE) of the European Committee of the Regions on 21 April in Brussels. On the table are the new circular economy action plan and the revised legislative proposals on waste. Cities and regions' direct involvement is key to succeed in reaching the new targets. Today, on average, only 37% of waste is recycled in Europe.
"Our aim is a quiet revolution. A move away from the unsustainable habits of the past, towards an economy that is more productive, more fulfilling, and more balanced. Better for citizens, better for business and in harmony with nature", declared Karmenu Vella. Commissioner Vella also affirmed his will to fight programmed obsolescence, a worldwide practice in industrial design to deliberately shorten products’ life to push for consumption.
The high-level debate included Simona Bonafè (S&D/IT), European Parliament rapporteur on legislative proposals amending the waste directives, Ambassador Wepke Kingma, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the EU, Babette Winter (DE/PES) CoR rapporteur on " Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy " and Domenico Gambacorta (IT/EPP), CoR rapporteur on " Legislative proposals amending the waste directives ".
"We welcome the integrated approach the Commission's has taken in the new circular economy package. Cities and regions must now lead change on the ground, not only in waste management but also through green public procurement" declared Babette Winter. We nevertheless miss more concrete measures within the package to promote education and raising awareness among citizens" added Mrs Winter, state secretary for Europe and Culture of Thuringia.
"The circular economy offers a great potential for economic growth and job creation in our cities and regions. Any proposed measures should however reflect the local and regional diversities across the EU" declared Domenico Gambacorta, President of the Province of Avellino. His adopted draft opinion includes a call to increase the Commission's proposal of a 65% target for the re-use and recycling of municipal waste by 2030 to 70%".
Karmenu Vella added, "Municipalities and regions have a very important role to play in implementing the circular economy package as they are usually responsible for organising separate collection, informing citizens and enforcing rules. With the right policies, you can take big steps in a short period of time. Wallonia increased its recycling by 25% in two years (2006-2008). Slovenia more than doubled its recycling and composting rate in only four years. And Wales has raised its recycling from 15% to 55% over the past ten years".
Local leaders ask the Commission to set up higher requirements for producers under the Extended Producer Responsibility. Obligations should be based on the full cost of the waste management services required to meet the producer responsibility obligations outlined in the waste directive. Local leaders ask co-legislators to set binding targets for re-use and recycling of specific waste streams such as furniture, fabrics and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The ENVE commission welcomes the EC proposal to completely ban the landfill of separately collected waste.
CoR calls for municipal waste to include also mixed waste and separately collected waste from other sources that is comparable to household waste in nature and composition but rejects the quantity criteria as proposed by the European Commission package. CoR highlights that in some member states waste from small-scale construction and demolition work carried out by individual households is considered municipal waste.
ENVE members propose to further monitor and coordinate activities on resource efficiency, recycling, re-use and waste management following the success of similar actions under the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy initiative.
EU regions’ and cities’ key requests on circular economy were presented in February 2015 in the opinion 'Towards a circular economy: a zero-waste programme for Europe '
Background information:
On 2 December 2015, the Communication published a communication entitled "Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy" together with a package of measures that intend to revise six directives on end-of-life vehicles, batteries and accumulators, and waste electrical and electronic equipment, as well as waste, the landfill of waste, and packaging and packaging waste.
The action plan aims to promote a more circular economy, to enhance conditions for more sustainable and more resource-efficient growth, and to foster consistency with other policy areas. The action plan therefore includes a wide range of themes and measures, from product design to consumption, waste management and resource valorisation.
The annex provides a timetable for legislative measures and breaks them down by theme. The intention is to overhaul the legal framework for developing the circular economy, set long-term waste management targets, and implement further specific measures. The action plan also aims to support businesses, society and Member States - including the regional and local level - in the implementation process.
Furthermore, the action plan specifically mentions the global dimension of this issue and refers to the objectives set out in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the G7 Alliance on Resource Efficiency.
In its Work Programme 2016, the ENVE Commission of the European Committee of the Regions identified "Advancing a circular economy and ambitious waste management" as one of its priority policy areas.
For each of the priority policy areas, ENVE holds a thematic planning debate. ENVE appointed two CoR rapporteurs who are currently drafting CoR opinions on the subject: Mr Gambacorta (IT/EPP) on the legislative proposals amending the waste directives, with the CoR draft opinion to be adopted by ENVE on 21 April 2016 after the thematic debate; and Ms Winter, (DE/S&D) on the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy.
Her working document provides further input to the thematic debate. The ENVE opinions are complemented by a NAT Commission own initiative opinion on food waste (COR-2015-6646, rapporteur Mr Martikainen (FI/ALDE)).
The European Commission Circular Economy Package adopted on December 2015 consists of an EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy in addition to a set of revised legislative proposals on waste which key elements are the following:
A common EU target for recycling 65% of municipal waste by 2030;
A common EU target for recycling 75% of packaging waste by 2030;
A binding landfill target to reduce landfill to maximum of 10% of municipal waste by 2030;
A ban on landfilling of separately collected waste;
More information on the EC Circular Economy Package click here.
Related CoR opinions:
CoR opinion on "Towards a circular economy: review of EU waste legislation", 12 February 2015, CDR 4083/2014
CoR opinion on "The review of the European Union's key waste targets", 4 July 2013, CDR 1617/2013
CoR opinion on "A resource-efficient Europe - Flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 strategy", 11 October 2011, CDR 140/2011 fin
CoR resolution on "Sustainable food", 8 July 2015, CDR 3306/2015
CoR opinion on "Resource efficiency opportunities in the building sector", 17 April 2015, CDR 4084/2014
Contact:
David Crous Duran
+32 (0) 476 87 99 29