Circular Economy Principles

Circular Economy

• A model of production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products to extend their life cycle and minimize waste.
• A departure from the traditional linear economic model, which relies on cheap materials and energy and encourages a take-make-consume-throw away pattern.

Environmental Benefits

• Reusing and recycling products would slow down the use of natural resources, reduce landscape and habitat disruption, and help limit biodiversity loss.
• A reduction in total annual greenhouse gas emissions, with industrial processes and product use responsible for 9.10% of emissions in the EU, and waste management accounting for 3.32%.
• Creating more efficient and sustainable products would help reduce energy and resource consumption, with 80% of a product's environmental impact determined during the design phase.

Reducing Waste

• A shift to reliable products that can be reused, upgraded, and repaired would reduce waste, with packaging being a growing issue, and the average European generating nearly 180 kilos of packaging waste per year.
• The aim is to tackle excessive packaging and improve its design to promote reuse and recycling.

Reducing Raw Material Dependence

• The world's growing population and demand for raw materials, but the supply of crucial raw materials is limited and finite.
• The EU imports about half of the raw materials it consumes, with a trade deficit of €35.5 billion in 2021.
• Recycling raw materials mitigates the risks associated with supply, such as price volatility, availability, and import dependency, especially for critical raw materials needed for climate goals.

Economic Benefits

• Moving towards a more circular economy could increase competitiveness, stimulate innovation, boost economic growth, and create jobs (700,000 jobs in the EU by 2030).
• Redesigning materials and products for circular use would boost innovation across different sectors, while providing consumers with more durable and innovative products that increase quality of life and save money in the long term.