Driving the Circular Economy

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Driving the

Circular EconomyA FEAD Strategy for 2014-2020


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Europes private waste and resource industry drives the circular economy

Foreword

The challenge facing Europes industries today is howto achieve sustainable growth in a resource-ecientand environmentally sound way.

The key to doing this is to make the European economymore circular, so that waste is reduced and madesafe, and what remains is re-used or recycled intonew products, or used to generate energy.

The waste and resources industry plays a key rolein the circular economy by providing secondary rawmaterials for Europes industries, and energy forits homes, transport and businesses, so improvingresource security.

This booklet sets out FEADs vision of the policiesneeded to allow the industry to play its full partin achieving a more sustainable and prosperousEuropean economy.

David Palmer-Jones,FEAD President


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FEADs Strategy for 2014-2020

Strengthen recyclability in product design and

manufacture

Eighty percent of the environmental impact of productsis determined at their design stage, providing anexcellent opportunity for Europe to take the lead insmart eco-design.

FEAD members will intensify their cooperaon

with designers and manufacturers to ensure that

products are designed to prevent waste and to be

easily reused, dismantled and recycled.FEAD calls on the EC to speedily adopt eco-design

measuresfor material resource eciency, including

seng recyclability requirements for selected

products such as electronics.

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Stimulate the market for recovered materials

Clear market signals would enable the European wasteand resources industry to provide more secondary raw

materials for European manufacturing and improveresource security.

FEAD calls for stronger rules on Green Public

Procurement at European level to promote the use

of products with recycled content and which are

recyclable. Public procurement should be by open

compeon and should not necessarily be awarded

to the lowest tender but to the oer which delivers

the most sustainable outcome.

FEAD recommends that Extended Producer

Responsibility (EPR) schemes should operate in a

transparent way, to encourage manufacturers to

use recycled materials and to ensure fair and equal

access to materials and resources.

FEAD recommends that the EC explores the

possibility of applying a lower rate of VAT to secondhand goods and green products, to promote waste

prevenon and re-use.

FEAD calls on the EC to adopt eco-labelling rules

which enable consumers to choose recycled products.


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Ensure fair compeon in waste markets

Fair compeon would allow the private sector wasteand resource management industry to deliver high qualityservices to commercial and public sector customers,signicantly reducing their costs and environmentalimpact.

FEAD calls for fair compeon between the private

and public sector providers of waste and recycling

services, to allow the private sector to invest in the

circular economy.Safeguards must be put in place so

that municipalies which have exclusive rights over

household waste do not use their posion to cross-subsidise their operaons in respect of commercial

waste, as this unfair compeon undermines private

sector service providers.

FEAD calls for the opening up of household waste

management markets to compeon from private

enes. Many member states grant exclusive rights

to municipalies or public waste management

enes, based on past concerns about hygiene,

health and protecon of the environment. However,

these concerns have been addressed and public

monopolies for the management of household waste

for recovery are no longer jused.

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Smulate private sector investment in resource

management infrastructure

Most Member States rely on the private sector to

provide the annual capital investment of 42.9 billionneeded from now unl 2020 to properly implementthe waste acquis 1, so moving towards a more circulareconomy.

FEAD calls for full implementaon and proper

enforcementof exisng EU legislaon on waste and

resource management, which would generate

400,000 jobs while protecng the environment and

human health and improving resource security.

FEAD asks the EC to ensure that any EU funds which

are provided to Member States for investments in

waste management infrastructure for recyclable or

residual waste respect the waste hierarchy.

FEAD asks the EC to accelerate programmes

designed to strengthen regulatory enforcement

in those Member States which are having most

diculty in reaching EU recycling and landll

diversion targets.

FEAD will play its part, supporng naonal

and European regulators by disseminang

environmentally responsible management pracces

across the sector.

1 BioIS.Implemenng EU Waste Legislaon for Green Growth (November 2011).

Source: ESA


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Create a strong reprocessing sector within a

global market

Europes re-industrialisaon strategies could do more

to help develop a strong European reprocessing andmanufacturing sector, while recognising the validity ofthe global market in clean secondary raw materials forrecycling.

FEAD supports an EU industrial policy which would

increase demand for the use of secondary resources

within Europe.

FEADs members operate in a world market forrecycling, so it is right that secondary raw materials

which currently cannot be reprocessed within the

EU are exported for recovery, consistent with the

global circular economy, provided this is done in an

environmentally sound manner.

FEAD supports strong acon against illegal

shipments of waste, notably WEEE and ELVs,

including implementaon of the revised WasteShipment Regulaon to improve inspecon regimes.

This is a beer soluon than trying to impose a

mandatory EU cercaon scheme on recycling

facilies worldwide.

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Ensure beer informaon to support policy

making

Eecve EU policy-making is hampered by poor data on

raw and secondary material ows, partly due to uncleardenions that allow for dierent interpretaons.

A key FEAD priority is for the EC to improve

stascs on raw material and waste ows, which

implies ghtening and harmonisaon of denions

and calculaon methodologies so as to limit

inconsistencies in waste stascs.

FEAD recommends that the EC develops a singleset of EU models for the evaluaon of the

environmental burdens associated with primary

resource extracon, procurement and conversion

to allow for fair compeon between primary and

secondary raw materials.


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FEAD supports connued eorts by the EC to clarify

when waste ceases to be waste, to promote legal

certainty, a level playing eld across the EU, a

strengthening of the internal market, and recovery

of secondary raw materials.

FEAD supports eorts to clarify and harmonise

denions across the Member States, and to

improve the reporng of waste stascs and data,

as well as measures to improve the operaon of

extended producer responsibility schemes, all of

which should aim to ensure transparency and fair

compeon in the markets for waste and resources.

Create a policy framework for a circular economy

FEAD welcomes the European Commissions July 2014proposals to revise EU waste legislaon and targets,which set out an ambious long-term vision for Europesresources policy beyond 2020. Turning this vision intoreality will be challenging and will require considerableinvestment, mostly from the private sector, therebycreang new business and job opportunies.

FEAD supports further increases in recycling as part

of the move towards a more circular and resource

ecient economy, and looks forward to working with

the EU instuons on the praccal steps that willneed to be taken to turn the Commissions ambious

vision into reality.

FEAD supports further progressive reducons in

landll, while recognizing that it will not be possible

to eliminate it totally for all types of wastes.

FEAD supports a future role for waste-to-energy,

mainly limited to dealing with non-recyclable/noncompostable waste.

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FEAD and its members

Europes private sector resource managementindustry guarantees safe and environmentallysound treatment of all types of waste, includingmunicipal and commercial waste as well ashazardous waste and soil remediaon. FEAD andits members are strongly commied to connuousimprovement and investment in health andsafety, going beyond legal requirements.

Improving resource management is one of the

best ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissionsto meet future climate targets. The Europeanwaste and resource management industry playsa major role in climate change migaon byreducing the use of virgin raw materials. Ourindustry has also reduced its own emissions byover 65% since 1990.


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APOHSlovakia

HRABRI ISTASerbia

EWMAEstonia

PIGOPoland

BDEGermany

NORSK INDUSTRINorway

FLEALuxembourg

VEBAustria

ARSRomania

IWWAIreland

FEBEM - FEGEBelguim

SRISweden

ESAUnited Kingdom

PASEPPEGreece

FNADEFrance

YTPFinland

ASEGRESpain

LASUALatvia

FISEItaly

VANetherlands

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FEAD Members


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September 2014

Responsible Editor: Nadine De GreefFEAD aisbl - 15, rue Philippe le Bon B-1000 Brussels

Tel.: +32 2 732 32 13 Fax: +32 2 734 95 [email protected] www.fead.be

Driving the Circular Economy

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