Press Release
European Bioplastics welcomes the European Parliament’s call for a paradigm shift towards a resource-efficient circular economy
Berlin, 14 July 2015. European Bioplastics (EUBP) welcomes the European Parliament’s (EP) adoption of the own-initiative report of Finnish MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen on ‘resource efficiency: moving towards a circular economy’. „The European Union needs to use natural resources more efficiently, and the European Parliament’s vote is a strong call for the European Commission to propose the necessary legislation by 2015“, says François de Bie, Chairman of the Board of European Bioplastics.
In its report, the EP demanded binding waste-reduction and recycling targets, a mandatory separate collection and recycling of biowaste by 2020, to limit incineration to non-recyclable and non-biodegradable waste, to gradually ban landfilling, as well as to apply resource-use indicators in support of a 30% improvement of resource efficiency by 2030. The Commission should also review the current eco-design legislation and other relevant product policy legislation by the end of 2016 with regards to broadening its scope by covering all product groups and establishing minimum recycled material content in new products.
While calling for the implementation of an ambitious recycling target of 80% of all packaging waste by 2030, the MEPs invited the Commission to assess the feasibility of gradually replacing food packaging with biobased and biodegradable, compostable materials in accordance with European standards. Additionally, the Parliament demanded to apply the cascading principle for the use of resources, notably biomass.
According to the report, these measures could boost the EU’s gross domestic product by nearly one percent and create 2 million new jobs by 2030. “High-skilled jobs in bioplastic manufacturing, converting and actually along the complete bioplastic value chain can be an important part of this growth”, says François.