The European Commission has said it will introduce new waste reduction targets and sustainability laws to ensure that products placed on the European Union market are recyclable, repairable and designed to last longer, its latest plan to halve waste by 2030.
“The goal in the end is decoupling resource extraction from our economic growth,” the EU’s environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius told reporters in Brussels.
Reuters Newsagency reports under the new plan, the EC will present new legislation to ban the destruction of unsold durable goods, and restrict products’ single-use and premature obsolescence, particularly targeting electronic devices.
The sector has “a massive impact” and “is constantly growing,” Mr Sinkevicius said, adding the EU is looking at introducing a common mobile phone charger and encouraging consumers to seek repairs.
Reuters reports that additionally, the bloc’s executive would target textiles.
Only one per cent of global textiles are currently recycled.
“Textile is the new plastics,” Mr Sinkevicius said.
Intentionally added microplastics would be restricted and measures would make recycled content and waste reduction mandatory.
The EC will also propose a new regulatory framework for batteries and overpackaging, progressively phasing-out non-rechargeable batteries and limiting packaging waste.
A circular economy is estimated to offer net positive benefits in terms of GDP growth and job creation, increasing the EU’s GDP by an additional 0.5 per cent by 2030 and creating around 700,000 new jobs.
The plan would still need approval from EU member states and the European Parliament.
The transition towards a circular economy is already under way, said the EC, with front-runner businesses, consumers and public authorities in Europe embracing this sustainable model.
The EC will make sure that the circular economy transition delivers opportunities for all, leaving no one behind.
The Circular Economy Action Plan, part of the EU Industrial Strategy presents measures to:
- Make sustainable products the norm in the EU. The EC will propose legislation on Sustainable Product Policy, to ensure that products placed on the EU market are designed to last longer, are easier to reuse, repair and recycle, and incorporate as much as possible recycled material instead of primary raw material. Single-use will be restricted, premature obsolescence tackled and the destruction of unsold durable goods banned.
- Empower consumers. Consumers will have access to reliable information on issues such as the repairability and durability of products to help them make environmentally sustainable choices. Consumers will benefit from a true ‘Right to Repair’.
- Focus on the sectors that use the most resources and where the potential for circularity is high. The Commission will launch concrete actions on:
- electronics and ICT, a ‘Circular Electronics Initiative’ to have longer product lifetimes, and improve the collection and treatment of waste
- batteries and vehicles, new regulatory framework for batteries for enhancing the sustainability and boosting the circular potential of batteries
- packaging, new mandatory requirements on what is allowed on the EU market, including the reduction of (over)packaging
- plastics, new mandatory requirements for recycled content and special attention on microplastics as well as biobased and biodegradable plastics
- textiles, a new EU Strategy for Textiles to strengthen competitiveness and innovation in the sector and boost the EU market for textile reuse
- construction and buildings, a comprehensive Strategy for a Sustainably Built Environment promoting circularity principles for buildings
- food, new legislative initiative on reuse to substitute single-use packaging, tableware and cutlery by reusable products in food services
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