During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels (8-11 February 2021), Parliament adopted comprehensive policy recommendations to achieve a carbon-neutral, sustainable, toxic-free and fully circular economy by 2050 at the latest. Extracts from the debate (08/02/2021), vote result (10/02/2021) and illustration

Brussels

debate

plenary session

GUTELAND, Jytte (S&D, SE)

circular economy (T)

BONAFÈ, Simona (S&D, IT)

HUITEMA, Jan (Renew, NL)

WALLACE, Mick (The Left, IE)

SINKEVIČIUS, Virginijus (Greens/EFA, LT)

European Green Deal (T)

MATTHIEU, Sara (Greens/EFA, BE)

New Circular Economy Action Plan: extracts from the debate

Title: New Circular Economy Action Plan: extracts from the debate (I-201912)

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Jan HUITEMA (RE, NL), rapporteur , I think if you want to be competitive vis a vis the rest of the world in the future, we will need a circular economy. Now, why am I saying that? I'm saying because the EU is not known as a place that has a lot of resources for natural resources, other continents have much more and we can't compete on low wages and salaries either, but we can compete due to our knowledge and due to innovation, that functions wonderfully in a circular economy.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Jan HUITEMA (RE, NL), rapporteur , There are 2 main obstacles to circular economy, and the biggest obstacle is that the use of natural resources as a raw material is a lot cheaper than using recycled products.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Jan HUITEMA (RE, NL), Rapporteur , It's also very important that we look at whether all waste streams are actually waste. I don't think that is the case and I think it's essential that the Commission comes up with criteria to define what is waste. It's also very important that we have good tracking and tracing system. We should have European validated certification system for recycled products that we know that there are high quality and safe. And if you have an eco label, people should be able to know that it is indeed a recycled product.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Jan HUITEMA (RE, NL), Rapporteur , We need also look at existing subsidies and taxes, to see if subsidies may have undesirable effects. An example is that biomass is burned with subsidies in incinerators, while perhaps that biomass could also be used to extract valuable raw materials.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Jan HUITEMA (RE, NL), Rapporteur , I consider it very important that the 'eco directive' is expanded and that you determine whether you set a minimum amount of recycled material that you use in your products and that this applies not only to European companies, but all companies that are on the European market and sell their products.

SOUNDBITE (English), Virginijus SINKEVI&#268;IUS, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, With the Commission proposal for a new back trace regulation, this proposal is truly groundbreaking. It covers for the first time the full lifecycle of a product and proposes a new toolbox for sustainability

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Simona BONAF&#200; (S&amp;D, IT), Taking into account sustainability repairability and a minimum contact specified for recycled materials in the product these sectors have the greatest potential in the circular economy: the textile sector, construction, ICT and battery production with next generation EU. We have an opportunity now to transform this into concrete investment in the Green Deal.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mick WALLACE (The Left, IE), It's good that the report calls on the Commission to propose targets to significantly reduce the use material and consumption footprints by 2030 and bring them within planetary boundaries by 2050, emphasising an absolute reduction in resource use is really positive.

SOUNDBITE (Swedish), Jytte GUTELAND (S&amp;D, SE), We welcome the Commission's action plan, it's excellent, but we would like to have a more targeted object . And I also like to thank the rapporteur for excellent work. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Sara MATTHIEU (Greens/EFA, NL ), I support one hundred percent the right to repair as a solution to the throwaway economy in this new action plan. We also need to move from the design to a circular economy. If we just focus on the economy, we will achieve 50 percent of what we need to do in saving energy. That is huge. Just imagine how much we can save if we continue this way.

Vote, result panel, 1 shot

Illustration part: textile, plastic and batteries (12) 