Circular economy

• [New] One of the aims of the Circular Economy Action Plan - an EU roadmap for achieving climate neutrality by 2050 - is to make sustainable packaging and other plastic products mandatory and increase producer responsibility.
• [New] In the last five years, growing numbers of businesses across sectors are transitioning to circular economy designs and business models to identify product innovations, capture new and diversified opportunities, and meet changing customer preferences.
• [New] The circular economy provides a USD 4.5 trillion opportunity 9 by 2030 through better waste management, increased business efficiency and new employment opportunities.
• [New] In 2021, we will see a major acceleration among manufacturing companies to find new or reinvent existing processes that will help them adapt their business to the circular economy.
• ICT Joins Circular Economy By 2025, 85% of ASX companies will mandate reusable materials in IT hardware supply chains, carbon neutrality targets for providers' facilities, and lower energy use as prerequisites for doing business.
• The Balearics will receive some 16 million euros of European funds for projects related to waste management and the circular economy.
• The Circular Economy can put Europe back on its feet, and packaging is an important part of the new Circular Economy Action plan, it commits to ensuring that less packaging waste is generated overall and that all packaging is reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way in 2030.
• The SSPP programme will support research and innovation to deliver a circular economy for plastics in the UK.
• The full economic and environmental benefits of moving to a more circular economy will only be captured if there is full integration between Defra's Resources and Waste Strategy and the Industrial and Clean Growth Strategies published by BEIS.
• The EU Plastics Strategy and Green Deal call for a circular economy for plastics to be established by 2030.
• As well as creating new opportunities for growth, a more circular economy will decrease waste, impulse greater supply productivity, Achieve a more competitive UK economy.
• BASF's new battery material plant will produce components for 400,000 electric vehicles annually, with a focus on creating sustainable products, through the integration of renewable energies, energy efficiency and circular economy.
• Parliament is set to back Commission proposals to make the EU a fully circular economy by 2050, but is calling for binding 2030 targets for materials use and consumption.
• According to Hestin et al. (2015), meeting the recycling targets for plastics could create 80,000 direct jobs and 120,000 indirect jobs by 2025 within the EU economy.6 More broadly, studies expect a net positive effect of implementing a circular economy.
• The European Commission is targeting a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions, 32% share for renewable energy and a 32.5% improvement in energy efficiency - all by 2030.
• Goals include cutting the EU's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030, scaling up the circular economy, and implementing carbon pricing to influence a shift in consumer and business behaviour.
• The transition to a circular economy is a great opportunity for Vietnam to develop rapidly and sustainably, not only achieving its economic, social, environmental, and climate change responses, but also helping to achieve goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, added Phuong.
• Amsterdam aims to have a 50% reduction in the use of primary raw materials by 2030, and be a fully circular economy by 2050.
• The EU's new industrial policy strategy and policy actions towards the circular economy are an opportunity to ensure that conditions are set to shift industries into fully-fledged low-carbon production.
• A new research hub led by the University of Exeter will spearhead national efforts to create a sustainable, circular economy where fewer resources are used and more waste materials reused - delivering huge benefits to the environment and UK economy.

Last updated: 28 February 2021