Photo: Hazel Nicholson via Flickr
The United Kingdom-based Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) reports that a number of the U.K.’s representative bodies for the waste and resource management sector have issued a joint letter to the European Commission to reinforce the need for effective demand-side mechanisms in the forthcoming European Union Circular Economy package.
The Circular Economy package, which has not yet been released, is expected to discourage wastes to landfill and instead drive materials through the waste hierarchy, using higher recycling and landfill diversion targets. However, the letter echoes the views expressed recently by the European Federation of Waste Management and Environmental Services (FEAD) that these targets need to be matched by measures to stimulate stronger and more stable market demand for recycled materials.
The letter, sent to the Commission’s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, and Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella, says, “Supply side actions have served us well in many respects to date, but they will be insufficient for the challenges ahead. We all share the ambition for a more circular economy, but we do not see the delivery of a circular economy coming purely from the operation of the market.”
In addition, the entities say that delivering the strong environmental and economic benefits of a circular economy requires a long term regulatory framework and market interventions that will stabilize and enhance the viability of increasing recycling.
A copy of the joint letter is available at http://www.fead.be/news/37-fead-news-homepage/122-letter-to-the-commission-on-need-for-binding-eu-targets.