Europe must accelerate efforts to transform its economy into a circular economy that focuses on reusing or reusing materials to reduce waste, a necessity if it is to meet climate targets, the European Environment Agency warned on Thursday (March 21) .
“Decisive action is essential to dramatically reduce waste, prioritize reducing resource consumption, improve recycling rates and increase the adoption of products designed with circularity in mind from the start,” the Copenhagen-based agency said in a statement Statement on the presentation of a new report.
“We are still a long way from the goal of doubling the Union’s circular economy rate by 2030,” the EEA said, adding that there was a “low or moderate probability” that the EU’s ambitions would be “achieved in the coming years.” .
“We need an additional political push,” Daniel Montalvo, a climate expert at the agency, said at a news conference.
According to the EEA, the core of the problem is business models in which products have a very short lifespan – if they are used at all.
“Business models revolve primarily around the mass production of products, often at the sacrifice of quality, and this leads to early failure or obsolescence,” the EEA said.
A recent EEA study found that 4 to 9% of textiles placed on the European market were destroyed without ever being used.
The processing and destruction of returned or unsold textiles is responsible for the equivalent of 5.6 million tons of CO2 emissions.
At the same time, Europe still uses more recycled materials than any other region in the world, with a circular economy rate of 11.5% in 2022.
However, progress has been slow and measures to combat waste have only been introduced in the last five years.
To accelerate the transition, the EEA has identified a number of areas for improvement as well as the need to reduce overall consumption.
The example given was the promotion of higher quality recycling, where materials retain their original function and value for as long as possible in order to reduce imports.
The agency also emphasized the importance of maximizing the use and lifespan of products through reuse and repair.
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