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2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
15. The Circular Economy Package of the European Union
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Abstract
The Circular Economy Package which the European Commission presented on 2 December 2015 aims to stimulate Europe’s transition towards a circular economy, improve international competitiveness, foster sustainable economic growth and generate new jobs. The package fleshes out the EU Roadmap to a Resource-efficient Europe where it relates to the circular economy.
The package comprises legislative proposals on waste and an action plan (Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the Cirular Economy, COM(2015) 614 final). The legislative proposals on waste aim to expand recycling and reduce land filling, and the action plan for the circular economy contains proposals for “closing the loop” in the circular economy and including all phases of a product’s lifecycle, from manufacture and use to waste management and the market for secondary raw materials.
The revised legislative proposal on waste, which encompasses amendments to four legal acts, sets waste reduction targets and is meant to create a long-term framework for waste management and recycling. To ensure effective implementation, the waste reduction targets in the new proposal are accompanied by various measures. However, the level of ambition of the measures included in the action plan offers countries with highly developed waste management systems such as Germany, the Netherlands, Austria or Denmark little new incentive, whereas they are ambitious for other Member States.