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EMMAUS EUROPE – JUNE 2016

The Emmaus groups – circular economy stakeholders

Since the Emmaus Movement was founded, the member groups have implemented the circular economy concept by collecting, sorting, repairing and reusing goods, giving them a new lease of life. The Emmaus Movement champions concrete alternatives to a society based on profit and consumption, thanks to its values of solidarity, simplicity and togetherness. These people-centred alternatives involve Emmaus volunteers, companions and employees working to forge social ties and create socially-inclusive jobs, while helping to protect the environment by reducing the amount of waste produced and the ensuing pollution. For Emmaus groups, the circular economy can be a vital tool for addressing the social and environmental crises.

The Emmaus groups have been implementing the circular economy concept on a daily basis even since the Emmaus

Movement was created

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The Emmaus groups’ values offer a response to the environmental crisis The Emmaus groups’ values of solidarity, simplicity, togetherness and interaction enable us to offer a response to the environmental crisis. The Emmaus groups reduce their carbon footprint by consuming less and adopting a frugal way of life. In addition, their re-use and preparing for re-use activities help to cut the amount of waste produced each year and therefore to reduce air, water and soil pollution. Furthermore, by focusing on people and developing social ties, the Emmaus groups are developing concrete alternatives to a way of life based on trading relationships, production and consumption, a way of life which is the root cause of the current environmental crisis. Emmaus’ activity is based on concrete actions. In this regard, the economist Serge Latouche has designed a tool which has much in common with Emmaus’ values and practices: the 8Rs are eight actions which need to be implemented if we are to build a more socially-inclusive and sustainable society that cares for people and the environment. (For more information about the 8Rs, visit Emmaus Europe’s website: Section Environment: a social issue)

So what is the circular economy? The current economic system is based on a linear model:

Extract raw materials è Production è Consumption èWaste

This system is unsustainable in a world with finite natural resources which are increasingly threatened by damage to the global ecosystem. Another model is possible and even necessary: the circular economy. “The circular economy is a trading and consumption system which aims to improve the way in which resources are used and reduce the environmental impact while enhancing people’s wellbeing at all stages of the product lifecycle (goods and services). In a general sense, the circular economy should endeavour to drastically cut resources wastage so as to disconnect resource consumption from the growth of GDP, while reducing the environmental impact and improving wellbeing. The aim is to do more and to be more effective with less” (ADEME) (see diagram page 1).

Re-evaluate

Reconceptualise

Restructure

Redistribute

Relocate

Reduce

Reuse

The circular model firstly emphasizes waste prevention: producing long-lasting and easy-to-repair

goods, and consuming less and in a smarter way. Product lifecycles are then extended by promoting

re-use and recycling of goods that some people no longer want. Finally, loops are created for end-of-

life products: waste is turned into raw materials. For instance, effective, affordable and

environmentally-friendly insulation material can be produced using the textiles collected and sorted by the Emmaus groups.

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Therefore, the circular economy goes further than simply making an effort to reduce our environmental impact, while continuing with our current development strategy. The aim is to radically overhaul the development model.

The circular economy is more than a simple economic tool: instead, it is an instrument which can be used to develop concrete alternatives, because it questions a model of society based on over-consumption and that doesn’t take into account human and environmental factors. The circular economy is part of what is known as the Social and Solidarity Economy whose stakeholders adhere to three core principles: they work for the common good, they do not seek to make a profit, and they operate in line with the principles of democratic governance. The values of the Emmaus groups (solidarity, simplicity and togetherness) and their activities (collection, sorting, reuse and preparing for reuse) make them both Social and Solidarity Economy and circular economy stakeholders.

Following the orientations adopted by the Regional Executive of Emmaus Europe of February 2016, the Board of Emmaus Europe got involved in the Circular Economy topic and set up a working group so as to work on the Circular Economy Package, and the impact it will have on the Movement. The aim of the group is to jointly develop Emmaus Europe’s stance on the Circular Economy Package and in a broader sense to further discussion on Emmaus being a sustainable development stakeholder, working to counteract the combined effects of the social and environmental crises.

What is the Circular Economy Package? The European Union is going to adopt the Circular Economy Package in autumn 2016. This set of directives will regulate the waste prevention and management sector in Europe.

As long-standing sector stakeholders, the Emmaus groups have unique waste prevention and management know-how and expertise. Furthermore, their solidarity and people-based practices ‘add social value’ to the work done by the groups. It is therefore vital for us that the new European regulatory framework, as well as the new framework at national level following transposition, takes into account the groups’ know-how and expertise. However, the proposal put forward by the European Commission and to be discussed by the MEPs does not seem favourable to Emmaus’ interests. On the contrary, it has a capitalist approach and there is a real risk of the waste prevention and management sector being monopolized by profit-motivated private sector players. This is why Emmaus Europe is contacting and lobbying MEPs so as to ensure that the work done by the Emmaus groups is acknowledged and protected and that the social component of the circular economy is maintained and consolidated. Proposed amendments have been sent to a number of MEPs so that the new regulatory framework on waste is favourable to the work of the Emmaus groups. One of Emmaus Europe’s main demands is that the Social and Solidarity Economy should be included in the package to ensure that the social objectives are not neglected and replaced by economic or environmental aims.

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To go further: terminology of circular economy

Waste hierarchy

Term What? What does it mean in practice?

Who?

Waste hierarchy Implementing the waste hierarchy is one of the main objectives of the Framework Directive on Waste. This strategy is based on waste prevention and on the principle that “the best waste is the waste that was never produced in the first place.” Public waste policy should therefore prioritize prevention and only use landfill as a last resort.

The waste hierarchy states the following: Waste prevention > re-use > preparing for re-use > recycling > energy recovery (or retrieving energy through incineration or biomass) > landfill.

The Emmaus groups are involved in implementing the waste hierarchy because of their waste prevention (via reuse) and preparing for reuse activities.

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Prevention All the phases in a product’s lifecycle before the waste is collected by an operator or local council. These phases are: product design, production, distribution, consumption and end-of-life. Re-use is part of waste prevention. (Source: ADEME).

Waste prevention may involve designing more robust and easier to repair products (addressing the issue of built-in obsolescence) or which require less packaging, or may take the form of more responsible consumer behaviour (responsible shopping and donating unused products to reuse stakeholders).

The Emmaus groups are waste prevention stakeholders because of their reuse activities: by using and putting on sale products which are still in working order but are unwanted by their original owners, they prevent additional waste from being generated.

Re-use “Any process through which substances, materials or products which are not waste are reused for the same purpose for which they were designed" (Order 2010-1579 FR transposing the Framework Directive on Waste).

Re-use solely refers to products which do not hold waste status. Reuse does not involve waste management; instead it is all about waste prevention.

The sale of collected/donated goods by Emmaus groups in their charity shops is an example of reuse. This makes Emmaus a waste prevention stakeholder.

Preparing for re-use Preparation for re-use “means checking, cleaning or repairing recovery operations, by which products or components of products that have become waste are prepared so that they can be re-used without any other pre-processing.” (Article 3 2008 Framework Directive on Waste).

Preparing for re-use can also be referred to as refurbishing. It is an umbrella term for all the processes which will enable an item to work once again so that it can be re-used.

The Emmaus groups are preparing for re-use stakeholders because of the work they do repairing, cleaning and checking the goods they collect. They enable products not in working order – waste – to be used once again.

Recycling “An industrial or household waste treatment procedure which enables materials to be reintroduced into the product production system; these materials may have been used on a similar product which has come to the end of its lifecycle, or may be manufacturing waste.”

Recycling refers to all the processing done to extract useful or valuable materials. These secondary raw materials are used to produce new goods. For instance, recycling WEE enables valuable materials to be extracted (such as copper, iron, stainless steel, plastic) which can be reused as secondary raw materials.

Most Emmaus groups do not recycle. Some of the goods they collect are simply too damaged to be prepared for re-use and then reused. These goods are sent to eco-organizations which are tasked with recycling them. For instance, the WEEE collected by the Emmaus groups in France and which

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Remaining WEEE are dismantled and decontaminated so that their disposal does not harm the environment.

cannot be repaired is sent to Ecosysème, which recycles them.

Energy recovery Energy recovery or retrieval is used for waste which cannot be recycled or reused as some other type of material and involves recovering and using the energy produced when treating waste using combustion or methanisation. The energy produced is used in the form of heat or electricity. (Source: ADEME)

The energy contained in waste can be recovered in two ways. Incineration: the heat generated by the smoke can be recovered in the form of steam or electricity. Fermentation (methanisation or composting) of organic components which enables biogas to be generated.

Emmaus groups do not do energy recovery, which is a process that requires specific equipment and infrastructure. Energy recovery processes, whether by combustion or methanisation, are generally undertaken by specialist companies, who then resell the energy produced to distribution grids.

Landfill

Deposit of the waste in a landfill. Directive 1999/31/EC on landfill regulates this practice, first of all by prohibiting illegal dumping in unauthorized landfill, and by required use of municipal waste disposal sites. Second, by taking necessary measures to ensure that landfill is only used as a last resort (after re-use, preparing for re-use and recycling) according to the waste hierarchy.

Some Emmaüs groups have partnership agreements with local governments, and work in collaboration with, or even manage, municipal waste diposal sites.

Waste management Waste management involves collecting, transporting, sorting, treating (preparing for reuse or recycling) and disposal (landfill, incineration, composting).

The generic term used to describe all waste-related processes.

The Emmaus groups are waste management stakeholders because of their collection, sorting and preparing for reuse activities.

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Recovery An umbrella term referring to the different methods of processing material or organic waste so that it can be used, such as recycling, composting or converting it into energy (known as energy recovery).

This term refers to all the processes enabling usable materials or energy to be produced from waste. Preparing for reuse and recycling are included in this category.

The Emmaus groups are involved in waste recovery because of their preparing for reuse work.

For more details, see: http://www.institut-economie-circulaire.fr/ and http://www.circular-europe-network.eu/

All Emmaus groups can join the action of interpellation around the circular economy !

v To pursue the work that has already been done around environmental themes (questionnaire,

visits to the groups…) the process of compiling the groups’ practices is going to be continued, with a focus on circular economy, so as to complement the available information and to share best practices.

Would you like to be contacted as part of this process? It can be through a meeting, a phone interview, or any other type of contribution that would allow to share practices and experiences about the circular economy.

v Do not hesitate to contact policy-makers, whether at European, national or local level, to

present them with Emmaus activities and raise awareness about the need to protect these activities.

For more information about this action of interpellation, do not hesitate to get in touch with the Emmaus Europe secretariat.

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The Circular Economy Package will be finally adopted this autumn. Until then, the mobilisation continues!

We are all affected! It’s an urgent matter, so exchange your views with us!

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Contacts : Juliette Laurent Gabriela Martin Stagiaire « Aspects environnementaux » Coordinatrice +33 (0)1 41 58 25 71 +33 (0)1 41 58 25 71 environnement@emmaus-europe.org gabriela.martin@emmaus-europe.org 47, avenue de la Résistance F-93104 Montreuil Cedex Fax : +33 (0)1 48 18 79 88 www.emmaus-europe.org