Waste, Extended Producer Responsibility, and Collective Compliance Schemes

Still reading the Commission's Communication on the European Green Deal . Here are some interesting facts (the primary sources are referenced to in the Communication): a. Between 1990 and 2018, the European Union has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 23%; at the same time, the economy grew by 61%. This means that the decoupling of economic growth and carbon emissions is achievable. b. According to the United Nations' " Global Resources Outlook 2019: Natural Resources for the Future We Want " report,  the annual global extraction of materials has tripled from 1970 to 2017 and it continues to grow. About half of total greenhouse gas emissions and more than 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress come from resource extraction and processing of materials, fuels and food, according to the same report. c. More pertinent to this blog's content, according to Eurostat's Circular Material Use Rate table , EU’s industry accounts for 20% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emi...

As per the Green Deal for Europe, which I am currently reading , "the Commission has already set out a clear vision of how to achieve climate neutrality by 2050". This vision is described in the Commission's communication titled: A Green Planet for all . It recognizes circular economy as a key enabler to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The data most relevant to the report on raw materials and the circular economy are presented in a study, titled:  Critical raw materials and the circular economy . It has been prepared by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) . 

If the EU were to take on the challenges of creating a circular economy on its own, its economy would be left at a competitive disadvantage; and the aims of reducing the global consumption of raw materials and redicing pollution overall would not be attained. For that reason, the EU should play an important role in leading a way to a global circular economy. That is why the European Union has comprised a working document titled  Leading the way to a global circular economy: state of play and outlook , which is another one of my reads currently.

Today I am reading an article in the Utrecht Law Review  titled:  The Polluter Pays Principle: Guidelines for Cost Recovery and Burden Sharing in the Case Law of the European Court of Justice  by Petra E. Lindhout and Berthy van den Broek. The article contains a chapter that describes the fundamentals of the polluter pays principle, which are very important, in order to establish how extended producer responsibility derives from the polluter pays principle. The article pointedly notes that environmental damage comes not only in the form of pollution but, also, in the form of the depletion of natural resources which are finite.

Still reading the Circular Economy Strategy - this time I found out about the Commission's strategy for A Sustainable Bioeconomy in Europe . Circularity here plays an important role, too, as it toes in the Commission's Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy .