Towards a circular economy: A zero waste programme for Europe
19/10/2014
Moving towards a more circular economy is essential to deliver the resource efficiency agenda established under the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Higher and sustained improvements of resource efficiency performance are within reach and can bring major economic benefits.
Circular economy systems keep the added value in products for as long as possible and eliminates waste. They keep resources within the economy when a product has reached the end of its life, so that they can be productively used again and again and hence create further value.
The high-level European Resource Efficiency Platform, bringing together selected governments, businesses and civil society organisations, called for action to move to a more circular economy, which relies more on reuse and high-quality recycling and much less on primary raw materials.
With the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe in 2011, the Commission proposed a framework for action and underlined the need for an integrated approach across many policy areas and levels. The main ideas of the Roadmap are now developed in the Seventh Environment Action Programme (7th EAP).
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