#CircularEconomy: Turning waste into opportunity

Florenz was satisfied with the outcome of the Environment Committee vote which was a success of the EPP Group: “On the Waste Framework Directive we managed to get clear definitions, which is key. If every member state has a different understanding of what municipal waste is, how can you then compare the data? This is linked to another important topic for us: to have one single method for measuring the recycling targets. Today, member states can choose from a wide range of possibilities on how to calculate how much waste their citizens produce and at what point they measure the recycling quota. We decided that this big loophole must be closed.”

“An important tool of waste legislation is the responsibility of the producer for its product, also when it becomes waste", explained Florenz. "I successfully negotiated that in the future, producers will know their responsibilities and what to pay for. To achieve this, we adopted a ‘closed list’ on costs to be borne by the producer, rather than an open-ended wish list.

"We should not go as far as making producers pay for removing a chewing gum thrown on the street. Waste prevention is everyone’s responsibility, including the consumer. We also made sure that producers have the freedom to fulfil their obligations individually or collectively, and this can be in the form of either for-profit or non-profit schemes”, he added.

"We are particularly satisfied with the European internal market approach for by-products and 'end-of-waste' which will allow producers to trade their products much easier across Europe", said Florenz. In addition, functioning existing legislation will not be touched. The EU legislation on chemicals (REACH) will continue to govern hazardous substances.

“We have to stop burying the resources that our grandchildren will need. This makes no sense for Europe, which is a resource-scarce and import-dependent continent," explained Florenz. "This is why we ruled that separately-collected waste should not be allowed in landfills anymore. Biowaste would now to be separately collected and organically recycled and home-composting should be encouraged by member states.

“This is a win-win approach. We gain biogas and compost as valuable materials; we avoid polluting the other waste streams such as paper and we cut greenhouse gas emissions by not landfilling the waste.

"Ambitious standards for recycling are needed in order to get high quality secondary raw materials. We gave the Commission a mandate to do this because it is a prerequisite for a circular economy," Florenz stressed.

“There is still a lot of work ahead of us. We need the political will for change, otherwise we will remain locked in our old linear model of consumption and will never achieve the benefits of a circular economy. In order to achieve these benefits, we need to question our old ways of thinking and behaving and make sure that the resources we use keep on producing value for our economies and benefits for our societies.”