The very first EU strategy on plastics and the interface between EU legislation on chemicals, products and waste will be at the heart of the policy debate among European environment ministers when they meet in Brussels on 5 March.
The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council has made the circular economy one of its priorities and will lead the initial ministerial discussion on the circular economy package presented by the European Commission in January to implement the EU action plan of December 2015 (see EUROPE 11966 and 11940).
The 28 member state ambassadors to the EU were told on Friday 23 February of the questionnaire to be put to ministers.
In terms of the strategy on plastics, ministers will be called on to respond to two questions. Firstly, what is the best approach to promote a substantial increase in the use of recycled plastics as well as in the capacity of the plastic recycling industry thus rendering the European market for secondary raw materials profitable? And secondly, given that decisions at member state level (for instance, on taxation and public procurement) also play a significant role in the transition to circular economy, which measures at EU level can provide economic incentives for businesses to develop more sustainable plastic products?
With regard to the interface between the rules on chemicals, products and waste, the Commission communication offers options to overcome four problems for the creation of a genuine single market in secondary raw materials: - insufficient information about substances of concern in products and waste; - the presence of substances of concern in recycled materials and products made from recycled materials; - uncertainty as to how materials can cease to be waste; - difficulty in applying the EU’s waste classification methodologies and the impact on the recyclability of materials (secondary raw materials).
The Bulgarian Presidency will put the following question to ministers: how do we ensure that waste that contains substances of concern is only recovered into materials which can be safely used – in particular, in cases where recycled materials contain chemicals that are no longer allowed in primary materials? (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)