1. Closing the loop – An EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy

2. Circular Economy: an EU priority
Protecting the environment and boosting competitiveness go hand-in-hand: both are about building a sustainable future.
Jobs, Growth and Investment
Democratic Change, Better Regulation
Energy Union and Climate
CIRCULAR ECONOMY

3. Circular Economy
Transition towards a Circular Economy
The value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible
Waste generation is minimised
Brings economic, social and environmental gains

4. Circular Economy action plan: Key action areas
Production
Consumption
Innovation, Investment & Monitoring
Secondary raw materials
Production
Objetives:
Provide incentives to boost circular product design
Innovative and efficient production processes
Actions:
reparability, durability, and recyclability in eco-design (e.g. TV screens)
Develop a more coherent product policy framework
best practices for waste management and resource efficiency in industrial sectors
industrial symbiosis
Brefs in different industrial sectors
Uptake and efficiency of EMAS and ETV
Consumption
Objetives
Allow consumers to identify products that have a reduced environmental impact throughout their lifecycle
Actions
Refit of Ecolabel and evaluation of PEF
Circular Economy criteria in GPP
Assessment of possible planned obsolescence
Reducction of false green claims
Waste Management
Objectives
Improve waste management in line with the EU waste hierarchy
Address existing implementation gaps
Provide long-term vision and targets to guide investments
Improvement of cooperation with Member States for better implementation EU legislation
Dissemination of good practices
Ensure coherence between waste legislation and Cohesion funds
Waste to Energy to ensure the obtaining of energy only if waste cannot be recycled
Market for a Secondary Raw Materials
Improve knowledge of material stocks and flows
Boost the demand of secondary raw materials
Increase the use of recycled nutrients and the reuse of treated wastewater
Safely manage risks of chemicals of concern
Development of quality standards for secondary raw material
Proposal for a fertiliser regulation
Development of minimum requirements for reused water and ground water recharge
Safe and cost-effective water reuse via inclusion best practices in relevant BREFs
Analysis interface chemicals-products and waste legislation
Facilitate waste shipment across the EU
Development of the EU raw materials information system
Innovation and Investment
Create the right environment for innovation and investment
Industry 2020 and the circular economy under H2020
Development of the Pilot Project Innovation Deals
Encourage applications for funding under EFSI
Assessment of the possibility of launching a platform together with the EIB and national banks
Engagement with stakeholders
Waste Management

5. Priority sectors Biomass & Bio-based Products Plastics
Construction & Demolition
Food Waste
Plastics
Objectives
Increase efficiency in recycling - less than 25% of plastic waste collected is recycled, and about 50% goes to landfill
Actions
New strategy on plastics including marine litter.
A more ambitious target for the recycling of plastic packaging in the legislative proposal on waste.
Food Waste
Reach Sustainable Development Goal to halve food waste by 2030 – today around 100 million tonnes of food are wasted annually in the EU.
Develop an EU methodology to measure food waste.
Create a platform for the SDG on food waste and to share best practice and results achieved.
Clarify EU legislation relating to waste, food and feed, and facilitate food donation.
Improve the use and understanding of date marking along the food chain (e.g."best before" label).
Critical Raw Materials
Increasing efficient use and recovery of CRMs.
Prepare a report on best practices and options for further action at the EU level.
Incentives/requirements in the waste directives.
Construction & Demolition
Identify and increase recovery of valuable materials
Ensure recovery of valuable resources and adequate waste management in the construction and demolition sector, as well as facilitate assessing the environmental performance of buildings
Develop pre-demolition guidelines to boost high-value recycling as well as voluntary recycling protocols aimed to improve quality of and build confidence
Biomass & bio-based products
Support an efficient use of wood and bio-based products
Increase recycling of bio-waste
Promote an efficient use of bio-based resources through a series of measures, such as the promotion of the cascading use of biomass and support to innovation in the bio-economy
New target for recycling wood packaging and a provision to ensure the separate collection of bio-waste
Critical Raw Materials

6. Circular Economy: an international dimension
EU's international commitments
2030 Sustainable Agenda
Paris Agreement to combat climate change
G7 Alliance for Resource Efficiency
EU's international commitments
2030 Sustainable Agenda, adopted by the United Nations in Sept 2015
COP21, historic agreement on 2°C global warming limit in Dec 2015
G7 Alliance for Resource Efficiency, building more sustainable supply chains and global markets for secondary raw materials

7. Actions relevant for chemicals and obsolete pesticides
Prevention of waste, application of the waste hierarchy
Fight against illegal shipments of waste
Options on the interface between chemicals, products and waste legislation
Support to innovation on new technologies, processes, services and business models
The Stockholm Convention and POPs Regulation (not mentioned in the circular economy action plan) remain the legal framework of EU action on POPs
Biomass & Bio-based Products
Plastics
Construction & Demolition
Food Waste
Critical Raw Materials

8. 1/3 of the actions are being implemented
Implementation
Action Plan
Communication
List of Follow-up
Initiatives (Annex)
4 Legislative
proposals on waste
1/3 of the actions are being implemented
They are being debated at the Council and at the European Parliament

9. State of Play (1) What has been done so far?
Legislative proposals on waste
Revised Guidelines on false green claims
Proposal on consumer protection in the on-line sale of goods
Call "Industry 2020 and the circular economy" under Horizon 2020
Legislative Proposal on fertilizers
Best practices of water reuse
"Innovation Deals"
Stakeholders platform on food waste
Waste: The proposals are undergoing the ordinary legislative process.
False green claims:
The updated Guidance on Unfair Commercial Practices is a comprehensive text designed to clarify and guide the proper application of the 2005 Directive on unfair commercial practices (UCPD). It does ensure that "traders do not present environmental claims in ways that are unfair to consumers" while "preventing competitors from presenting misleading environmental claims".
Green Public Procurement:
'Buying Green' handbook and development of
Green Public Procurement criteria for more than 20 products
Innovation: Over €650 million are allocated to ‘Industry 2020 in the circular economy’, in the Horizon 2020 Work Programme for On-going preparatory work seems to indicate that Horizon2020 will continue to support such actions also during the time period.
Revised Fertilizers: Proposal undergoing the legislative iter. The proposal aims to facilitate the use of organic fertilizers.
Water Reuse : Inclusion in BREFs under IIED
Innovation Deals: the call was open until 15-sep. they received above 30 proposals. Up to five Expressions of Interest will be selected and will become Innovation Deals. The selection will happen October – December 2016 and they will start working beginning Evaluation of the pilot mid 2018.
Food Waste: The Platform will bring together public entities (Member States/EFTA countries, EU bodies and international organisations) and actors in the food value chain including consumer- and other non-governmental organisations. Private sector organisations were selected through an open call for applications which closed 27 May 2016.
Platform launched in August, will have its first meeting on 29 November devoted to discuss the methodology to measure food waste.

10. State of Play (2) Next steps Eco-design working plan
Communication 'Waste to Energy'
REFIT of EU Ecolabel and of EMAS.
Preparation for next steps pilots Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) and Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)
Green Financing Platform with the EIB and national banks
Assessment of the contribution of Circular Economy to the Bio-economy Strategy
Recycling Protocol for Construction and Demolition Waste
Waste to Energy
Its adoption is foreseen by the end of the year.
Platform between EIB +National Banks:
Focus on the platform on advisory services rather than direct funding.
Bioeconomy Strategy and the Circular Economy
The conceptual framework of the strategy (what is the bioeconomy and what is the EU approach) is still valid and should not be changed. Update and refocus needed on the second part with the concrete actions.
Recycling protocol for the CDW:
The C&D protocol is being finalized with adoption foreseen by the end of It focuses on the quality of the materials and to increase the trust in them.

11. State of Play (3) Next steps (2017) On-going Plastic Strategy
Pre-demolition assessment guidelines for the construction sector
Interface between chemicals, products and waste legislation
Monitoring and indicator framework
On-going
Quality standards for secondary raw materials market
Development of indicators for the assessment of the environmental performance of a building
New/revised BREFs for industrial sectors
Use of Cohesion funds for Circular Economy
Pre-demolition assessment guidelines:
Adoption foreseen for early It is aimed to be picked up by industry which will provide indication for the next steps (more formal standards or voluntary status)
Development of quality standards:
Currently performing two mapping exercises on sustainable chemicals (sustainability of plastics covering 80%) and the bio-forestry industry; industry will need to prioritize its needs and Commission will determine if formal standards or voluntary protocols are the best answer.
Circular Economy in BREFS:
Including guidance on CE in new/revised BREFs for industrial sectors is an on–going process. BAT Conclusions for non-ferrous metals adopted in June.
Cohesion Funds
cohesion policy allocates about EUR 150 billion to objectives with a direct relevance to the circular economy, such as research and innovation, SMEs, low-carbon economy, resource efficiency and waste management. The implementation of the national and regional programmes is now fully underway and projects are being selected by the Member States. Capacity-building and technical assistance: we offer various mechanisms to help Member States implement the programmes and carry out good projects (including Jaspers for Major Projects, focused state aid seminars,  fi-compass for financial instruments), so the available resources are used in an optimal way. Technical assistance budget is also available to Member States. Cross-border cooperation: several programmes foster interregional cooperation on circular economy activities. The performance framework, which includes a number of indicators, is geared towards achieving real results from the funded projects. The allocations and expected results are visualised in the new Open Data Platform.

12. Other European Institutions
Council
Discussions on the Waste Proposals
Council conclusions on the Action Plan
European Parliament
Report of the ENVI Committee
Draft reports of Simona Bonafé and opinions of EP ITRE Committee
Committee of the Regions
Final opinion on the waste proposals
Upcoming opinion on the Action Plan
EESC
Opinion on the Circular Economy Package
Council:
The legislative proposals on waste are being discussed in the Council Working Group- well received so far.
Council conclusions on the Action Plan adopted on the 20th June, supportive of the Circular Economy action plan.
On ecodesign (par.8): the Council expresses concerns about the delays on eco-design; request to evaluate by 2018 which product groups other than energy-related could better integrate resource-efficiency aspects in their design, building on the experience of the Ecodesign regulations.
On legal guarantees (par.9): the Council intends to discuss the extension of the legal guarantee for all sales of goods, based on the Commission's proposal on online sales.
On marine litter (par.14): the Council requests a ban on micro-plastics in cosmetics and similar initiatives on other products.
On the monitoring framework (par.23): the dashboard of reliable indicators should be developed in view of formulating ambitious and realistic targets with a long-term horizon
On reporting: the Council requests a written annual update and regular evaluation of the effect of implemented actions, starting in 2018.
On the stakeholder platform: the Council asks for an EU platform for structural exchange of knowledge and good practices between Member States and stakeholders.
Intense work will be needed under the Slovak Presidency
European Parliament:
Report of the ENVI Committee to be adopted in autumn, based on the published draft reports of Simona Bonafé and the opinions of EP ITRE Committee (June).
Committee of the Regions:
CoR opinion adopted on 15 June 2016 on the waste proposals. The opinion on the Action Plan is foreseen for next
EESC:
They welcomed the package. Points of concern:
level of ambition of the package,
social and labour related benefits and risks of the circular economy,
the weakness of the economic instruments as drivers of the transtion,
possibility of launching and European Platform for the Circular Economy.

13. At national level
Member States are implementing national policies on circular economy
National Parliaments opinions on the EU Package
Some cities are becoming 'circular'
Some examples of the actions taken at member state level:
France- "Loi de Transition Énergétique pour la Croissance Verte"
Germany- German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess II)
The Netherlands-"From waste to resource" (VANG-programme)
Examples of National Parliaments' opinions on the Package:
Folketing (DK)'s Opinion on the Commission's proposals on waste
Assemblée nationale (FR)'s Opinion on the Circular Economy Package
Riksdag (SE)'s Opinion on the Circular Economy package
Cities applying the Circular Economy:
Brussels- "Programme Régional de l'économie circulaire"
Amsterdam- Report "Circular Amsterdam"

14. Stakeholders' engagement
Exchange of best practices and knowledge
European Innovation Partnerships (Raw materials-water)
Support of voluntary business approaches and public-private partnerships
Role of private institutions
Ellen McArthur Foundation
Institut de l'Économie Circulaire
Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP)-UK
According to the Action Plan the Commission will:
1. Engagement with stakeholders in the implementation of this action plan through existing fora in key sectors
2. Support to a range of stakeholders through actions on public-private partnerships, cooperation platforms, support to voluntary business approaches, and exchanges of best practices
As result of this engagement and the interest shown of the Circular Economy, many private institutions are actively contributing to the dissemination of the Circular Economy concept and exchange of good practices:
Ellen McArthur Foundation- recent publications: the new plastics economy: 1. rethinking of the future of the plastics and 2.intelligent assets: unlocking the circular economy potential.
Institut de l'Économie Circulaire: they have launched the Circular Economy awards in 2016
Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP)-UK: In recent years it brokered a number of voluntary agreements with business including Construction , Retailers, Textiles and Electrical and electronic products.

15. Thanks for your attention