Fundamentals

🇪🇺🇨🇳 China and EU signed ‘historic’ memorandum about the circular economy

At the 20th EU-China Summit in Bejing this week recycling was one of the core topics. Co-operation by the two major world economies is said to cover sustainable strategies, legislation, policies and research. More specifically, it will focus on management systems and policy tools including eco-design, eco-labelling, extended producer responsibility and green supply chains as well as financing of the circular economy. Both sides have pledged that they will support a ‘strategic exchange’ on best practices in key fields such as industrial parks, chemicals, plastics and waste.

This confirms the road China is heading towards sustainability. In January 2017, Xi Jinping announced to spend 252 billion Yuan (US$ 37 billion) from 2017 to 2020 for improving the waste situation in his country.

Sources:

🇪🇺 EU Member States approve Circular Economy Package (CEP)

The final legislative hurdle to creating a more resource efficient Europe has been overcome after the Council of the European Union approved the EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) in Brussels on Tuesday, 22 May 2018.

The final ratification by the Council comes a little over a month after MEPs in the European Parliament gave the set of revised waste directives their seal of approval, ratifying the targets agreed upon following the end of three-way discussions known as trilogues between the European Council, Commission and Parliament back in December, which were then approved by EU ambassadors in February this year. The announcement marks the end of a long journey through the institutions since the Juncker Commission put the current legislation forward in 2015, after withdrawing a draft CEP put forward in July 2014 that included a 70 per cent recycling and reuse target for 2030.

Progress on moving towards a circular economy has been steady since the start of the year, as a Monitoring Framework to measure the EU’s progress towards the CEP targets was also proposed by the European Commission in March, while a Plastics Strategy was agreed at the start of March, with an aim of making all plastic packaging recyclable by 2030.

The new legislation means that EU member states will be obliged to reach a 55 per cent municipal recycling rate by 2025, 60 per cent by 2030 and 65 per cent by 2035. Confusion over the headline target was apparent in the first few months of the year, with many reporting the 65 per cent figure as the 2030 target, as opposed to the 2035 target.

Specific targets for packaging for 2030 are also included for all packaging (70 per cent), plastic (55 per cent), wood (30 per cent), ferrous metals (80 per cent), aluminium (60 per cent), glass (75 per cent) and paper and cardboard (85 per cent).
In addition to material-specific targets, member states will have until 1 January 2025 to set up a separate collection for textile waste and hazardous waste from households and until 31 December 2023 to ensure that bio-waste is either collected separately or recycled at source (e.g., home composting).

A landfill reduction target is also included in the package, with member states expected to ensure that, as of 2030, all waste suitable for recycling or other recovery shall not be accepted in landfills, except waste for which landfilling is the best environmental outcome. In addition, member states will ensure that by 2035 the amount of municipal waste being sent to landfill is reduced to less than 10 per cent of the total amount of municipal waste generated.

Furthermore, the new legislation foresees more use of effective economic instruments and other measures in support of the waste hierarchy. Producers are given an important role in this transition by making them responsible for their products when they become waste. New requirements for extended producer responsibility schemes to improve their performance and governance are included in the CEP. In addition, mandatory extended producer responsibility schemes have to be established for all packaging by 2024.
Now that the Council has ratified the CEP, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal, with 24 months allowed for the governments of member states to transpose the new laws into national legislation.

Despite the perpetual uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the form of the UK’s future relationship with the EU, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has indicated that the CEP will apply to the UK following Brexit, even going so far as to suggest that the UK would set even more ambitious targets than those contained in the landmark European agreement.

Commenting on the announcement, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, said: “The final approval of new EU waste rules by the Council marks an important moment for the circular economy in Europe. The new recycling and landfilling targets set a credible and ambitious path for better waste management in Europe. Our main task now is to ensure that the promises enshrined in this waste package are delivered on the ground. The Commission will do all it can to support Member States and make the new legislation deliver on the ground.”

Neno Dimov, Bulgarian Minister of Environment and Water, added: “I am very pleased that ministers have given their approval to the revised legislation on waste today. Europe is moving towards a circular economy. These new rules protect not only our environment but also the health of our citizens. Today we close the loop of product lifecycles, from production and consumption to waste management. This decision is about making our economies more sustainable and environmentally-friendly.”

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Circle Lab, biggest global open access innovation platform for the circular economy, launches 1,000 new case studies — Circle Economy

Circle Lab invites the global community to tackle humanity’s biggest challenges with circular solutions by applying the most up-to-date knowledge on the circular economy After a successful launch in March 2018, Circle Lab introduces a new product feature today: the world’s biggest circular economy database, openly accessible and searchable for everyone. This is the…

via Circle Lab, biggest global open access innovation platform for the circular economy, launches 1.000 new case studies — Circle Economy

🇫🇷 PM Edouard Philippe launches anti-waste plan for circular economy

On 23 April 2018 French Prime Minister Edouard Phlippe announced a plan to boost the “circular economy”, clamping down on waste and encouraging recycling.

“One obsolescence we are convinced of today … is the model where we extract, manufacture, sell and throw away,” Philippe said on a visit to the Seb Moulinex factory in Mayenne, northern France. The electronic goods manufacturer’s plant was chosen because it has made a speciality of producing repairable products. He announced an anti-waste battle plan that will encourage recycling and incite companies to produce goods that are more robust and easier to repair.

Among the proposed measures are:

A target of 100 percent recyclable plastic by 2025;
Reduction of resource consumption by 30 percent by 2030;
The creation of 300,000 jobs in the circular economy, their present number being estimated at 800,000;
By 2020 manufacturers of electronic goods and furniture will have to inform consumers of their products’ life expectancy and how they may be repaired;
The law on guarantees will be tightened up and a website set up for consumer complaints;
A new industrial sector should be established for the recycling of toys, sports and DIY goods and mobile phones, of which 30 million “are slumbering in French people’s draws”, according to Philippe.
VAT will be reduced for recycling and the anti-pollution tax raised;
TV licence fees will be proportionate to a household’s waste.

The building industry, which is responsible for 70 percent of France’s waste, is to be one of the bill’s principal targets.

“It’s about directing consumption towards the most robust products (…) and products that can be repaired more easily,” said Philippe. The text also plans to increase the legal compliance period (guarantee), now set at two years, at European level, and to facilitate complaints to consumers via an internet portal provided for this purpose.

In addition to the goal of “extending the life of products and developing repair”, the government plan aims to develop recycling channels. A single logo, “Triman”, will indicate for example if this or that product is recyclable.

France still has some way to go towards being waste-free. Its waste-recovery rate was 39 percent in 2014, compared to 65 percent in Germany and 50 percent in Belgium. Less plastic is recycled than the European average, with 55 percent of plastic bottles collected, compared to 90 percent in Scandinavia.

unsplash-logoCelvin Purnama

Sources:

(1) http://en.rfi.fr/20180423-france-launches-war-waste

(2) https://www.devdiscourse.com/Article/4870-edouard-philippe-launches-anti-waste-plan-for-circular-economy/Europe%20and%20Central%20Asia

Do you need a reason for the Circular Economy?

Then have a look at this video of the American Museum of Natural History about human population on Earth. I love it because it not just provides an insightful perspective on our presence on our planet over time but also creates a sense of urgency to rethink resource consumption and how we treat our environment. In closing it further encourages not to look into the future in fear. It is projected that population growth will level off and there will be enough room for everybody. However, thoughtful consumption and maximum utilisation of resources will help us to live together on our planet peacefully.

Enjoy!

🇪🇺 Innovation Deals for a Circular Economy

Deutsche Version
Versión española

On 2 December 2015 the European Commission adopted the Circular Economy package to support the transition towards a more circular economy in the EU. This package consists of legislative proposals as well as of an Action Plan. One of the key initiatives for 2016 was ‘Innovation Deals for a Circular Economy’.

Innovation Deals (ID) are a new pilot scheme that aims at ‘bringing together innovators, national/regional/local authorities, and Commission services to clarify perceived regulatory barriers to innovation in EU regulation or Member State implementing measures’. From 26 May until 15 September 2016 companies across Europe had the opportunity to hand in their formal expression of interest in the ID. The European Commission invited ’any innovator, or group of innovators seeking to introduce a circular economy-related product or service to the market but has encountered a perceived regulatory obstacle’.

The selection of the IDs was made in the period of October until December 2016. Subsequently, in the first quarter of 2017, the European Commission selected two IDs out of 32 expressions of interest from 14 different Member States: Firstly, ‘Sustainable wastewater treatment using innovative anaerobic membrane bioreactors technology (AnMBR)’; And, Secondly, ’From E-mobility to recycling: the virtuous loop of electric vehicle’.

In April 2017 the involved parties of the ‘Waste water’ ID worked out the Joint Declaration of Intent which contains scope, objectives, actions, roles, tasks, timeline, and expected results of the ID. The project is divided into three phases (Early Life, Intermediate Review, Conclusion and Outcomes), each being maximum six months but can be shortened. The final evaluation of the Innovation Deals is scheduled for mid 2018.

Look forward to my future posts about each individual ID.

Link to website of the Innovation Deals of the European Commission

Link to the report on the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan

Am 2. Dezember 2015 verabschiedete die Europäische Kommission das “Circular Economy“ Paket zur Unterstützung des Übergangs zur Kreislaufwirtschaft in der EU. Dieses Paket besteht aus Legislativvorschlägen sowie einem Aktionsplan. Eine der wichtigsten Initiativen für 2016 waren die „Innovation Deals for a Circular Economy“.

Innovation Deals (ID) sind ein neues Pilotprojekt, das darauf abzielt, “Innovatoren, nationale/regionale/lokale Behörden und Kommissionsdienststellen zusammenzubringen, um wahrgenommene Regulierungsbarrieren für Innovationen in der EU-Verordnung oder in den Durchführungsmaßnahmen der Mitgliedstaaten zu klären”. Vom 26. Mai bis zum 15. September 2016 hatten Unternehmen in ganz Europa die Möglichkeit, ihr formelles Interesse an dem ID abzugeben. Die Europäische Kommission lud “jeden Innovator oder eine Gruppe von Innovatoren ein, die ein zirkuläres, wirtschaftliches Produkt oder eine Dienstleistung auf den Markt bringen wollen, aber ein regulatorisches Hindernis wahrgenommen haben“.

Die Auswahl der IDs erfolgte im Zeitraum von Oktober bis Dezember 2016. Anschließend, im ersten Quartal 2017, wählte die Europäische Kommission zwei IDs aus den 32 Interessenten aus 14 verschiedenen Mitgliedstaaten heraus: Erstens ‘Sustainable wastewater treatment using innovative anaerobic membrane bioreactors technology (AnMBR)’; Und, zweitens, ’From E-mobility to recycling: the virtuous loop of electric vehicle’.

Im April 2017 erarbeiteten die beteiligten Parteien des „Waste Water“ IDs die gemeinsame Absichtserklärung, welche Umfang, Ziele, Handlungen, Rollen, Aufgaben, Zeitplan und erwartete Ergebnisse enthält. Das Projekt gliedert sich in drei Phasen (Early Life, Intermediate Review, Conclusion and Outcomes), die maximal sechs Monate dauern, aber jeweils verkürzt werden können. Die endgültige Bewertung der Innovation Deals ist für Mitte 2018 geplant.

In Zukunft werden wir noch genauer auf die einzelnen IDs eingehen.

Link zur Website der Innovation Deals der Europäischen Kommission

Link zum Bericht über die Umsetzung des Aktionsplans für die Kreislaufwirtschaft

El 2 de diciembre de 2015, la Comisión Europea adoptó el paquete “Economía circular” para apoyar la transición hacia la Economía Circular en la UE. Este paquete consta de propuestas legislativas y de un Plan de Acción. Una de las iniciativas claves para 2016 fue „Innovation Deals for a Circular Economy“.

Innovation Deals (ID) son un nuevo programa piloto que pretende «reunir a los innovadores, las autoridades nacionales / regionales / locales y los servicios de la Comisión para aclarar los obstáculos normativos percibidos a la innovación en la regulación de la UE o en las medidas de aplicación de los Estados miembros». Desde el 26 de mayo hasta el 15 de septiembre de 2016, las empresas europeas tuvieron la oportunidad de expresar su interés en el ID. La Comisión Europea ha invitado a «cualquier innovador o grupo de innovadores que desee introducir en el mercado un producto o servicio de economía circular pero que haya encontrado un obstáculo normativo percibido».

La selección de los IDs se realizó entre octubre y diciembre de 2016. Posteriormente, en el primer trimestre de 2017, la Comisión Europea seleccionó dos IDs de 32 expresiones de interés de 14 Estados miembros diferentes: En primer lugar, ‘Sustainable wastewater treatment using innovative anaerobic membrane bioreactors technology (AnMBR)’; Y, en segundo lugar, ’From E-mobility to recycling: the virtuous loop of electric vehicle’.

En abril de 2017, las partes involucradas de la ID de „Waste Water” elaboraron la Declaración Conjunta de Intención que contiene el alcance, los objetivos, las acciones, las funciones, las tareas, el calendario y los resultados esperados. El proyecto se divide en tres fases (Early Life, Intermediate Review, Conclusion and Outcomes), cada una con un máximo de seis meses, pero se puede acortar. La evaluación final de los IDs está prevista para mediados de 2018.

Espera posts sobre cada ID individual en el futuro.

Link al sitio web de Innovation Deals de la Comisión Europea

Link al informe sobre la aplicación del Plan de Acción de la Economía Circular

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🇬🇧 World’s first ‘standard’ for the circular economy launched in the UK

In the UK the BSI (business standards company) has launched a new standard for the circular economy – ‘BS 8001: 2017: Framework for implementing the principles of the circular economy in organisations’.

As the first standard of its kind both in the UK and globally, BS 8001 was developed to provide guiding principles for organisations and individuals to consider and implement longer term practices, that keep products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times.

Working alongside BSI the Ellen MacArthur Foundation contributed to the development of the standard, helping to ensure its practical relevance to business, and its accessibility to those without prior knowledge of the circular economy. The standard is intended to be used flexibly by those who adopt it – irrespective of size, sector, type or location.

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