On 16 January 2018, the European Commission adopted one of the circular economy documents – the Strategy for Plastics where the European Commission details proposals how to turn major environmental pollution challenges into opportunities.
“If we don’t change the way we produce and use plastics, there will be more plastics than fish in our oceans by 2050,” commented First Vice-President Francis Timmermans, responsible for sustainable development (press release by the European Commission http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-5_lt.htm).
The main objectives of the Strategy:
- By 2030, all plastics packaging used in the EU market is either suitable for recycling or reuse;
- By 2030, more than half of the plastics waste is recycled;
- By 2030, the capacity for sorting and recycling has increased 4 times since 2015, creating 200,000 new jobs. About 500 new sorting and recycling plants are planned to be built;
- The chemical industry works closely with the waste recycling sector and the substances hampering recycling processes have been replaced or phased out;
- Consumers are made aware of the key benefits of sorting and enabled to contribute actively to the common sorting policy;
- Business entities see the production of recyclable packaging as a business opportunity.
The Strategy of the European Commission is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/pdf/plastics-strategy.pdf