Circular economy: the EP urges the Commission to present new ambitious proposal

On 9^th July 2015, the members of the European Parliament gathered in plenary session approved with a high consensus (394 votes in favour, 197 against and 82 abstentions) a very structured proposal on issue of circular economy. The resolution adopted by the European Parliament follows the European Commission's communication on circular economy package (COM (2014) 0398), presented together with a legislative proposal on waste (COM (2014)397) which was withdrawn in March by the new Juncker Commission with a promise to make improvements. In the wake of this controversial decision by the Commission, the European Parliament therefore wanted to send a strong signal, urging it to submit an "ambitious proposal" on the issue by the end of the year. The MEPs call on the EU to reach a sustainable model of production by 2050 at the latest and to fix binding targets for reducing waste by 2025. From 2020 onwards, the selective collection of biodegradable waste should be mandatory and the practice of incinerating recyclable and compostable waste a thing of the past. Parliament also calls for European resource-efficiency targets, based on reducing the use of resources by 30% between now and 2030 compared to 2014 (together with individual targets for the member states), even though this objective was made non-binding, with the approval of an amendment supported by EPP. This initiative of the European Parliament is very significant because with high likelihood many of the ideas contained therein will be taken by the European Commission and presented formally in the new package later this year.