After an adoption by the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the plenary session of the European Parliament has adopted its report on the new EU Circular Economy Action Plan. With 574 votes in favour, 22 against and 95 abstentions, it is a comprehensive set of policy recommendations which have been adopted to achieve a carbon-neutral, sustainable, toxic-free and fully circular economy by 2050 at the latest.
Binding 2030 targets are needed for materials use and our consumption footprint, covering the whole lifecycle of each product category placed on the EU market, MEPs stress. They also call on the Commission to propose product-specific and/or sector-specific binding targets for recycled content.
Parliament urges the Commission to put forward new legislation in 2021, broadening the scope of the Ecodesign Directive to include non-energy-related products. This should set product-specific standards, so that products placed on the EU market perform well, are durable, reusable, can be easily repaired, are not toxic, can be upgraded and recycled, contain recycled content, and are resource- and energy-efficient. Other key recommendations are detailed here.
It is possible to watch the debate in the plenary here.
Source: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210204IPR97114/circular-economy-meps-call-for-tighter-eu-consumption-and-recycling-ruleshttps://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20210204IPR97114/circular-economy-meps-call-for-tighter-eu-consumption-and-recycling-rules
Cover picture ©AdobeStock_Fotoschlick
