Harnessing the potential of the circular economy to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change, accelerating the EU's transition to a truly circular, resource-efficient economy, creating a framework for sustainable product policy, economic opportunities for businesses and establishing a culture of sustainable production and consumption: the Action Plan 2.0 presented by the European Commission on Wednesday 11 March is ambitious (see EUROPE 12441/4).
"This is an important day for the EU's environmental and industrial policy, a major step towards the low-carbon and resource-efficient economy of the future", said Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, commenting on the action plan to the press. According to him, the linear model, which currently only re-injects 12% of secondary materials and resources into the economy, has reached its limits.
"The growth of population and world consumption is bringing us closer and closer to a resource crisis. The only way to address this is to decouple economic growth from primary resource extraction", he said.
To this end, the Commission will propose legislation to ensure that, from their conception, products are made to last longer, to be easy to repair, to recycle and to reuse. It will also legislate to help consumers make sustainable choices based on reliable information and to combat waste.
Provided for by the European Green Deal, this second action plan will take over from that of 2015. It is closely linked to the industrial strategy presented on Tuesday 10 March (see EUROPE 12443/7) and the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 expected from the Commission on 25 March (see EUROPE 12422/1).
It contains 35 initiatives to be launched during the mandate of the von der Leyen Commission to tackle the resource and waste crisis by focusing on the most resource-intensive sectors: electronics and information technology (ICT), batteries, construction, textiles, water and food.
The plan provides for the development of waste prevention targets and the extension of producer responsibility, but finally does not contain a quantified target for the reduction of municipal waste by 2030 (see EUROPE 12417/8). The Commissioner acknowledged this, saying that the Commission intends to analyse the implementation of the recently revised waste legislation beforehand.
Better equipped public purchasers and consumers. In order to make green products the rule, the Commission plans to set minimum criteria for green public procurement. "These criteria will be crucial in helping to increase demand for secondary raw materials", the Commissioner said.
In order to provide reliable information to the consumer, it is foreseen that companies substantiate their environmental claims for their products by using methods for calculating the environmental footprint of products or organisations. This will prevent ‘greenwashing’. The Commission announces that it will test the integration of these methods into the EU Ecolabel, which will more systematically integrate sustainability, recyclability and recycled content into its award criteria.
The new right to repair, which will be created for the consumer to combat the programmed obsolescence of products, will initially focus on everyday electrical and electronic equipment, such as TVs, tablets, smartphones or chargers, with a view to extending their lifecycle. The Commission would like this repair to include the updating of obsolete software.
"Two out of three Europeans would like a longer life cycle for these products. It must be possible to change the components", the Commissioner said.
The Commission is not currently considering a ban on single-use batteries; it is currently reviewing existing legislation, which already provides for the management of the end-of-life of spent batteries. "We would like to move towards rechargeable batteries only, but we don't have any legislation yet. Instead, we will move to universal chargers for mobiles, tablets and phones", the Commissioner said.
What is the expected quantified contribution of this action plan to the EU's climate neutrality objective by 2050? Virginijus Sinkevičius was unable to put forward a percentage reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. However, according to him "resource extraction emits huge amounts of greenhouse gases" and one thing is certain: "without the circular economy, we will not achieve our climate goals".
In the five resource-intensive sectors, the plan includes:
Batteries and vehicles: a new regulatory framework for batteries to improve durability and boost 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 a special focus on microplastics as well as biological and biodegradable plastics.
Textiles: a new EU strategy for textiles to strengthen competitiveness and innovation in the sector and stimulate the European market for textile re-use (in 2021).
Construction and buildings: a global strategy for a sustainable built environment promoting the principles of circularity for buildings.
Food: A new legislative initiative on re-use to replace single-use packaging, crockery and cutlery with reusable products in food services.
Less waste. Emphasis will be placed on the total avoidance of waste and its transformation into high-quality secondary resources - through improved recycling quality - and benefiting from a well-functioning secondary raw materials market. The Commission will examine the possibility of establishing a harmonised model for separate waste collection and labelling at EU level. The Action Plan also proposes a series of actions to reduce waste exports from the EU and to combat illegal waste shipments.
An Action Plan 2.0 that was fairly well received. In Parliament, MEP Éric Andrieu (S&D, France), who chairs the special PEST (pesticides) committee, welcomed the action plan. "We will, however, ensure that it can truly move towards non-toxic material cycles. (...) Recycling must not be a pretext for reintroducing hazardous substances that the legislation intends to eliminate", he stressed. It also points out that Parliament rejects the reintroduction of lead in recycled PVC and the import of products containing pesticides banned in the EU.
BusinessEurope, representing Europe's leading companies, sees the Action Plan as a promise of a 'win-win' situation for businesses and the environment. "Today Europe wastes up to €4.8 billion a year due to non-compliance with existing EU waste legislation. Minimising waste production and maintaining the value of raw materials and products for as long as possible is therefore not only good for the environment, but also good for business", commented the organisation's Managing Director, Markus J. Beyrer. The creation of a market for secondary raw materials is a matter of urgency, he stresses.
The European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC) welcomed the European Commission's "bold step" as a contribution to greener products for consumers. "This action plan is crucial to making the green transition a reality. If we want consumers to play their part, it must be easy, convenient and affordable for them to make sustainable purchases, which is far from being the case today", said BEUC Executive Director Monique Goyens. She particularly welcomes the new right to repair.
The Rethink Plastic alliance finds the plan promising, but is waiting to see concrete action. According to it, one of the most positive actions is the promise to develop new measures to make products more sustainable. In a statement, it "welcomes this long-awaited legal framework, in particular the commitment to develop reusable tableware, packaging and cutlery in the food service sector". However, it regrets that the Action Plan is "too vague about microplastics" and "remains cautious about the Commission's commitment to establish a policy framework for bio-based and biodegradable plastics", which are single-use materials with similar environmental impacts to conventional plastics, the NGO said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)