Closing the Loop: New EU Circular Economy Package
This week, in a bid to support Europe’s much needed transition from a linear “take, make, dispose” model of economic growth to an economy where waste is minimized and products are designed to be reused and recycled continuously, the European Commission adopted a new Circular Economy Package. This set of measures aims to contribute to "closing the loop" of product life-cycles through greater recycling and re-use expected to benefit both the environment and economy.
The wide-ranging set of policies proposes an EU-wide target for recycling 65% of municipal waste, and 75% of packaging waste, by 2030. It also contains a binding target to reduce landfill waste to a maximum of 10% of waste streams by 2030 across all EU member states. A separate action plan will also be set up to evaluate the future plastics packaging target depending on the progress made by individual Member States. A prospective plastics target for 2025 has been set at 55% but the Commission didn’t take the opportunity to increase the marine litter reduction target from 30% to 50% as the Parliament requested.
“We are disappointed that the Package shows a reduction in ambition with lower recycling targets and non-binding commitments.” said Ania Budziak, Project AWARE’s Associate Director. “We very much welcome, however, the EU commitment to develop a strategy on plastics and tackle product design as plastics continue to represent the most common type of marine debris found and reported by Dive Against Debris volunteers underwater.”
When everything has a further use, and products are made to be as durable as possible, waste is less likely to end up in the ocean to cause damage as marine litter. A truly circular economy can help ensure a clean and healthy ocean.
In 2016 and beyond, we will continue to work with Seas At Risk and other partners against trash. Meanwhile, keep helping us show the true extent of the global marine debris crisis through your Dive Against Debris surveys and support our work to change policies to reduce marine litter with a donation towards a trash free ocean.
