Our model of production and consumption in Europe is unsustainable. Too many products become waste and end up in landfills and incinerators. With the rest of the world approaching European consumption levels, our planet faces a problem of epic proportions. Europe needs to face up to this challenge. Do we stay in the slow lane and just improve parts of our waste management, or is it time to move into the fast lane and become a circular economy that is more suited to the finite resources of our planet? Opting for the fast lane makes sense.
First, we need to change our mindset concerning waste. Europe today sends over 50 per cent of its waste straight to landfill and incinerators, destroying valuable resources that have often been imported from countries outside Europe at a high cost. This is an economic folly as well as an environmental one. The cost of raw materials will also increase into the future as the resources of our planet become ever more strained, which for Europe means only higher costs for resource imports.
"Europe's future would look brighter if we moved towards a circular economy and the ingredients for making the switch are there"
Our policymakers have to start thinking beyond what is called a 'linear approach', in which a product is made, sold and discarded, and start thinking about a circular approach, where we re-use, recycle and, above all, prevent unnecessary waste. Behind every raw material extracted and imported to Europe is an economic opportunity. The circular economy should no longer be treated as a pilot project of best performing business models, new products and initiatives but as a complex set of regulatory and economic instruments to trigger systemic change in Europe.
The 'three Rs' -reduction, reuse and recycling -can shift the focus of decision makers from waste generation to waste avoidance. They can act as positive drivers of the European economy and its industries. A recent report released by the European environment bureau (EEB) called 'Advancing resource efficiency in Europe' makes the case for adopting bold reuse and recycling targets at EU level in the upcoming review of waste policy. The potential of a more ambitious policy in resource efficiency is impressive: a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 400 million tonnes of CO2, the creation of 750,000 jobs by 2025 and financial savings above €70bn through food waste reduction by 2030, which amounts to half of the EU's budget for 2013.
Too often 'three Rs' targets are seen as obstacles to growth and as a burden on business. But reuse and recycling are actually ways to secure access for Europe to secondary materials which, in turn, make our economy more resilient to resource shortages and price hikes.
Second, we have to link how we design our product policies more closely to waste policies. They are dependent on one another. Smart design that allows the dismantling, repairing and even upgrading of a product, and which makes the best possible reuse of its materials, is essential. An economy that is built around such a framework is regenerative by design. Nothing is lost, and every product can have its lifecycle extended and be transformed into something else.
"With the rest of the world approaching European consumption levels, our planet faces a problem of epic proportions"
Clearly the situation in Europe is heterogeneous when it comes to treating waste. Some countries are more successful in their waste policies than others. But we have to avoid falling into the implementation gap, also known as the 'implementation trap'. Every time a proposal is made for extra ambition in waste policy, many of our governments and industries complain about the poor implementation of current policy. Their argument is that we need to correctly implement existing laws before boosting ambition levels further. Yet there is no evidence to suggest that adopting more ambitious policies for the years ahead creates obstacles for the enforcement of current waste laws. On the contrary, all the best performers in waste policy implementation in Europe are also the most ambitious in their future policy objectives.
The European states who are meeting current waste policy targets mobilise a set of economic instruments, such as pay-as-you-throw and extended producer responsibility schemes, combined with regulatory targets, which provide long-term certainty, and have requirements for infrastructure, such as selective kerbside collection. They also involve civil society in developing waste management plans, while dedicating efforts and resources to proper implementation and enforcement.
The European commission should be bold in its upcoming review of waste policy. Europe's future would look brighter if we moved towards a circular economy and the ingredients for making the switch are there. All we need now is the political will.