Do you want to know why we need a holistic circular economy strategy that go far beyond recycling ?
The problem? ⛔
According to the European Environment Agency, the EU economy consumed 7.2 billion tonnes of materials in 2021 out of which only 11.7% came from recycled hashtag#waste — also known as the Circular Material Use Rate (CMUR)
To hit the targets from the Circular Economy Action Plan, CMUR in the EU needs to double (from 11.7% in 2020 to 23.4% in 2030)
This requires increasing our CMUR by 1.3% on an annual basis, whereas we only increased that number by 0.4% annually between 2004-2010 and even less by 0.1% between 2011-2021.
The solution? 🔁
Increasing CMUR in our resource consumptions model implies to respond to two main objectives :
📉Reducing material input into the economy (e.g. by increasing the usable lifetime of products and materials)
📈 Increasing material rate of recycling when they become waste
These can be achieved faster by applying hashtag#circulardesign principles – and the recent policy proposals are moving in that direction (e.g., regulations on hashtag#sustainableproducts, hashtag#batteries and hashtag#packaging)
By 2030, the CMUR could increase to 22% — very close to the 2030 target — if different strategies are combined. This will also position the EU on the launchpad to attain its 2050 trajectory.
1️⃣ Enhancing recycling: Increasing the recycling of all treated waste from 40% in 2020 to 70% in 2030 and 90% in 2050
2️⃣ Improving hashtag#materialefficiency and reducing material consumption: Decreasing domestic material consumption by 15% by 2030 and 45% by 2050, compared to 2020 level
3️⃣ Reducing the use of “hashtag#fossilfuels: decreasing the amount of fossil fuels used by 34% by 2030 and 83% by 2050, compared to 2020 level
Finally, adding indicators on the hashtag#environmentalimpact for the consumed materials enables to identify the materials on which to apply hashtag#circularity in priority. These results highlight that, from an environmental perspective, more focus needs to be put on fossil fuels and biomass products although they don’t represent the largest consumption on a tonnage basis.
More here : https://lnkd.in/eX3n8cVA