The Future of the Circular Economy

With the uncertainty surrounding the withdrawal of the EU's Circular Economy Package to "make way for a broader and more ambitious approach that can be more effective", WMW asked a number of industry leaders for their thoughts on what the future holds for the circular economy in Europe? Waste disposal: a failure in the circular economy? Stéphane Arditi, Policy Manager for Products and Waste European Environmental Bureau (EEB) The circular economy has become the latest buzzword in Brussels and the trend is unlikely to die fast. But as expected, few people are singing from the same hymn sheet. The circular economy means different things to different people. For the European Environmental Bureau, a circular economy implies a zero waste, resource-efficient society which involves big changes to our methods of both production and consumption. That's why we refer to systemic change. Beyond the potential for material savings and reducing the impact of our activities on the environment, a circular economy can create huge economic opportunities, making more efficient use of every single resource we consume. New services and business models could change the relationship between producer and consumer, and between a product and its user. Picture a washing machine. There is a first economic opportunity in building it to last longer. This is because new design, new assembly processes, new ways of marketing products will need to be developed. A second opportunity emerges if, instead of disposing of the washing machine which is now broken or has failed, the producer provides a model compatible with repair and upgrades, further extending its lifetime, and providing the opportunity to adapt the appliance, for example by adding more effective energy saving features such as weight sensors. Further down the line, it can be dismantled, its parts re-used in new models, key components can be re-manufactured and, eventually, its individual materials can be recycled. Along every step, businesses can be generated and new forms of income and new jobs created. Only when the washing machine's materials are too damaged, outdated or dangerous because of the presence of toxics, should the disposal option be considered. But, in a fully circular economy, the energy recovery option implies a loss of resources and therefore represents failure. More innovative practices and materials are needed to prevent waste from being created in the first place. That's why the European Commission should explore all avenues and possibilities in extending life time, re-use, re-manufacturing and recycling before considering the waste-to-energy option in its circular economy plans. Too great a rush in promoting energy recovery will kill the far greater, upstream opportunities. The European Environmental Bureau calls for the eco-design of products which make them longer-lasting and more easily repairable and for greater emphasis to be placed on waste prevention and re-use targets. Growing circular economy businesses Dr. Adam Read, Practice Director – Resource Efficiency & Waste Management, Ricardo-AEA Rejecting EU circular economy (CE) policy does not seem to be a full rejection of the European Commission's CE ambition, as they have reaffirmed their commitment to developing a broader and more ambitious Circular Economy Package. At this year's European Circular Economy Conference in Brussels on the 5th of March, commissioner Karmenu Vella outlined their planned two fold approach, which he confirmed will be published by the end of this year. The first course of action is to maintain focus on EU wide recycling levels. Vella intends to focus this around legislative waste proposals, which set smart, realistic objectives focusing on waste targets, which are sensitive to the recovery capabilities at a country level. There is nothing new or cutting edge here but it should improve the foundations from which the CE can be developed with heightened recycling of materials across all countries. The second policy stream will seek to close the circle, moving beyond simply recycling. It will address the development of a road map for sustained action of the CE, targeting both up and down stream material flows. Up-stream considerations will focus on the production and use phase, before resources become waste while down-stream will look at the end of first life and will look at what can be done to encourage and develop markets for recycled products. The roadmap will seek to identify what can be done both immediately and in the medium term. This is a critical part of the CE journey in Europe. However, we are where we are. Across Europe, current waste management policies are clearly pushing us towards a circular economy, with diversion away from landfill and efforts to improve recycling quality and markets. There are also clearer signs of policy pressure to cut back on waste combustion in favour of more recycling. Increasing amounts of food waste are used for biogas production or animal feed and there is policy interest in promoting more sophisticated forms of biological nutrient recycling to produce chemicals, transport fuels and polymers. To be truly ambitious in terms of the CE across Europe, the speed and scale of change must be stepped up significantly. The aforementioned road map will need not only to offer policy level drivers but will inevitably require a mixture of carrots and sticks to drive us all away from our addiction to linear consumption models. CE policy and activity to date has tended to focus more on wastes than on original design and material flows throughout the value chain and, as a result, we are perhaps steering more towards a spiral economy than a circular one. What the circular economy really means for the resource industry? Dr. Forbes McDougall, Head of Circular Economy UK & Ireland, Veolia The circular economy was first proposed as a concept in the late 1970s by Professor Walter Stahl. At its most basic, the concept recognises that population growth and traditional (linear) manufacturing processes where the majority of products are eventually disposed of after use, is unsustainable. A circular economy keeps more raw materials and products in circulation by increasing repair, reuse, recovery and recycling. The circular economy concept really entered the mainstream when championed by the Ellen McArthur Foundation starting in 2010. Now, the UK Government, the European Union and many other academic institutions, non-profit organisations and NGOs have produced significant documentation supporting and promoting the approach. The ultimate goal of the circular economy is to evolve into a society where residual waste is reduced to a minimum with high levels of capture and reuse via a combination of eco-design, new business models (including rental, repair and reuse) and new recycling technologies. This ambitious but logical goal will require significant changes in both product/packaging design and public/consumer behaviour that will likely take decades to deliver. There is currently no roadmap as to how this will happen but designers face a major expectation that they can engineer features such as design for repair, reuse or recyclability into products/packaging while ensuring they remain attractive to consumers. The resource management industry, the foundation of this evolution, will have to evolve to deliver a broader portfolio of material recovery solutions that will drive new partnerships with raw material suppliers, processors and manufacturers. The circular economy will clearly bring new opportunities to the resource management industry. There will be a requirement to move beyond materials recycling and embrace reuse and refurbishment practices and a need to develop collection and sorting systems to capture even more value from recycling processes. Over time, as a circular economy becomes more established, the industry can expect to see a further decrease in landfill and the introduction of advanced material recovery and recycling processes (as products designed for recycling become the norm). Recycling rates will increase, but eventually recycling will be seen the last option after repair, re-use, re-distribution and re-manufacture. Materials technology will evolve and enable a move from non-renewable materials to the production and use of high levels of renewable materials in finished products. Why Europe is Playing Catch Up David Palmer-Jones, CEO of the UK Recycling and Waste Recovery Division, SUEZ Environnement The future of the circular economy in Europe has arrived at a crossroads - time is ticking while we decide which way to turn. We don't have the time to waste by delaying these much-needed changes – particularly now we are seeing the ill-effects of various market forces on the demand for secondary raw materials. If the "more ambitious" circular economy proposals promised by Vice President Timmermans do materialise and, importantly, contain credible and effective measures to boost demand for secondary raw materials across Europe, then we will welcome the changes. We need the Commission to seize a golden opportunity for Europe and to not shy away from the admittedly more complex challenge of striking a balance between supply and demand – focussing not just on "push" measures which drive collection of secondary raw materials, but also on "pull" measures to ensure there's a viable end market for them. Forward-thinking policy instruments promoting resource efficiency throughout the whole supply chain must get this balance right, creating a sound foundation for business growth and investment across Europe. We need to create our own markets for the secondary materials Europe produces, and not rely on export markets like China and other developing nations because, soon enough, they will generate and consume their own. To incentivise and encourage demand for secondary materials, the new package should include policies such as minimum recycled content requirements for selected products; labelling rules on products to indicate recycled content and a lower rate of VAT on second-hand goods and products with recycled content. "Green" public procurement requirements would also help to boost the purchase of recycled products and materials. While secondary materials are in direct competition with low-price virgin materials, we will not deliver a more circular economy in Europe. As competition for resources and raw materials becomes more intense, circular thinking will move from being a marginal consideration to become a mainstream business model. Anticipating this, countries such as Japan, China, South Korea and Germany have enacted appropriate policies to help their economies move from a make-use-dispose model to one that builds up resilience and is more resource-efficient. The European Union is playing catch-up. But a completely circular flow of materials is unattainable. Our supply chains are far too complex, and no material or product is 100% recoverable. Cementing UK as a leader in anaerobic digestion Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive, Anaerobic Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA) As one of the few circular economy technologies already functioning, anaerobic digestion (AD) will be a vital recycling (and renewable energy) technology to underpin the cities of the future – and there are opportunities for the UK to take a leading role in resource-efficient urban design. Planners and architects need to consider how they can better incorporate refuse and recycling facilities into densely populated spaces, and how segregated waste collection services can be implemented or improved. In addition to overcoming barriers to changing recycling behaviour, such as odour and pest concerns, and introducing efficient compartmentalised waste collection vehicles, cities will need to assess how best to manage the resources produced from waste – or more appropriately ‘resource' – treatment processes. While the UK population continues to rise, economic growth can only be sustainable if we better manage our resources, cut carbon emissions and invest in our ageing infrastructure. By offering closed-loop recycling for the essential nutrients in our food waste – as well as baseload renewable energy and ultra-low carbon transport fuel that dramatically improves air quality – AD can play a pivotal role in supporting greener, smarter cities. The World Economic Forum has suggested that developing the circular economy would save $1 trillion a year and so, as part of our cities' transition towards greener, smarter designs, the EU's Circular Economy Package needs to support a commitment to getting the most out of our resources with ambitious targets and investment. Ultimately everything, in theory, could be circular – but it will need a lot more technological development to ensure it can be done efficiently and safely. The European Commission needs to set out a revitalised Circular Economy package that recognises the huge potential for green job creation, resource security, environmental protection and economic growth. This framework will be essential in moving the resources agenda forward - and in England as across Europe, source segregated food waste collections are critical to increasing recycling rates. Not only would segregated food waste collections increase recycling, but treating the UK's inedible food waste through AD would produce 9.3TWh of green gas per year – enough to heat half of the homes in London. An ambitious Circular Economy package would cultivate a thriving domestic and international market in recycled material, such as digestate, helping to establish new markets for biochemicals and bioplastics, and cement the UK's position as one of Europe's leaders on food waste AD facilities and technology. More Waste Management World Articles Waste Management World Issue Archives