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Europe has set ambitious goals to create a competitive circular economy that can be key in supporting innovation, decarbonisation and security. The transition is also needed to halt biodiversity loss and wasteful use of natural resources. Published today, two briefings from the European Environment Agency show the status of circular economy and highlight the need for improving recycling quality.
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EEA briefing ‘Europe’s circular economy in facts and figures’ provides a state of play on Europe’s progress from linear production and consumption towards circularity where the value of products and materials are kept in the economy much longer.
Europe has strong policies, knowledge, and financing to support circularity, and the EU businesses and consumers recognise the value of circularity, but its material flows are still predominantly linear, the EEA briefing shows. Resource productivity in Europe is more than 2.5 times higher than the world average and almost half of all waste generated in Europe gets recycled. Still, an average European uses about 14 tonnes of materials and generates 5 tonnes of waste annually, which is among world’s highest levels and beyond sustainable limits.
EEA briefing ‘Measuring the quality of recycling’ looks at how to increase recycling volumes and improve recycling quality by optimising material loops.
According to the briefing, measures to increase recycling quality include avoiding mixed collection systems, investing in effective sorting technologies and directing recyclables into new products that also have a high recycling potential. These are key measures to advance circular economy while maximising the environmental benefits during the entire recycling value chain.
The two analyses are part of the EEA’s ‘Circularity Metrics Lab’ work, which uses a range of sources to provide insights on progress towards circular economy. This work supports the implementation and monitoring of the EU’s circular economy action plan, which can play a key role both for Europe’s goals on climate and nature and for the bloc’s competitiveness, innovation and security.
Along with the two briefings, the EEA also published country profiles, offering a view of circular economy policies being implemented at a national level with a particular focus on elements that go beyond EU mandatory elements; and best practices with a focus on policy innovation.
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