Six Steps to a Circular Economy
these include the regulations for packaging within the meaning of the EU Packaging Directive, for accumulators and batteries within the meaning of the EU Battery Regulation or for products for which environmental product declarations are available in accordance with EN 15804.
3. Stable Commodity Markets for Circular Economies The circular economy should make a decisive contribution when it comes to meeting the demand for raw materials in Germany and Europe. Circular economy means taking a holistic view of the life cycles of raw materials and products. Along the five-step waste hierarchy (prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling, other recovery and disposal), the aim is to keep raw materials in cycles and to recycle waste to the highest possible quality. Steel and many other non-ferrous metals, as well as glass, wood and paper, are already industrially processed at the end of their useful life and are an integral part of the supply of raw materials to industry. This is mostly successful because these materials still have a positive monetary value even as waste since they occur in sufficient quantities or concentrations and/or can be recovered and reprocessed without any significant reduction in quality. Today, challenges exist above all in the recycling of some plastics and technology metals. In view of the challenges outlined at the beginning of the paper, the use of raw materials in the future must be aligned in such a way that emission reduction or resource efficiency potentials are consistently exploited and import risks for supply-critical raw materials are minimised (resilience of supply chains). In this context, it will be important to use an intelligent mix of instruments to increase the use of raw materials from the circular economy, renewable raw materials and durable products and materials. These include the creation and application of quality standards, the promotion of the bioeconomy, the support of measures for raw material recovery and of technology development and simplified shipment procedures for waste on the European internal market ("fast track"). The implementation already started politically and the further discussion on specifications for the use of recycled raw materials (e.g. mandatory recycled content for PET bottles and batteries) must be continued in the future in close dialogue with industry. In the interests of practicable and enforceable regulations on the European internal market, depending on the area of application, product-specific proof or proof by means of certified mass balances can be useful. The BDI-Initiative Circular Economy is available as a discussion platform. Furthermore, the effective combating of illegal waste shipments to third countries and the prevention of waste treatment under inadequate or non-existent environmental and recycling standards in accordance with the requirements of European law must continue to be an objective of German and European policy.
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