GREENS/EFA POLICY INPUTS FOR THE UPCOMING CIRCULAR ECONOMY ACT

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In 2020, the Commission adopted the Circular Economy Action Plan, as one of the main building blocks of the Green Deal. During the 2019-2024 legislative period, several pieces of legislation were introduced and revamped as follow up to the Plan, to increase circularity of products and product value chains, including the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, the Directive on Repair of Goods, the Regulation on Packaging Waste, the Batteries Regulation, the Construction Products Regulation, the Waste Framework Directive, etc.

In 2024, the new Commission announced their willingness to further strengthen the EU circular economy regulatory and investment framework, by proposing a Circular Economy Act in 2026, which could consist of amendments to existing legislation, brand-new legislation, and complementary measures, such as increased funding aiming at establishing a single market for circular and second hand products as well as for secondary raw materials and waste. This paper provides the Greens/EFA input to the public consultation that the Commission  launched in August 2025 as they start preparing the Act. Besides suggestions for legislative amendments, this paper also recommends shifting up a gear on the implementation of existing provisions.

●      What is circular economy:

• Circular economy means minimising our consumption and corresponding waste production to respect planetary boundaries.
• Circular economy means keeping materials and raw materials in closed and clean loops: design and produce products sustainably and free from toxic substances, use them for longer time, reuse them, repair them and finally recycle them. Waste becomes a design flaw.

●      What should the Circular Economy Act do:

• The Circular Economy Act should reduce Europe’s resource use and environmental footprint to stay within planetary boundaries, by setting a framework for transitioning to a circular, non-toxic, single market, increasing European demand for circular products and services, and making circular business models the norm.

●      How will a fully circular economy benefit Europe:

• Economic resilience and independence: In an increasingly unstable and complex geopolitical context, circularity will allow the industry in our resource-scarce continent to break free from dependence on third countries’ supplies and to no longer be the victim of export restrictions and price volatility. Our European industry will gain material self-sufficiency: it will use less material; it will import less material; imported material will stay in Europe through domestic refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling.
• Industrial competitiveness:
• Resources represent the largest input cost for the European manufacturing industry. More circularity will reduce such costs, improving the competitiveness of our companies.
• While there may be job losses for linear businesses that do not adapt and for raw material suppliers, circularity will create new jobs in circular design, repair, refurbishment, recycling, and in organisations active in product-as-a-service and subscription-based models. Most of these jobs will be local and many will have a high societal value, as several social economy organisations are active in the circular economy sector (e.g. repair and distribution of used cloths, furniture, electrical equipment, etc).
• Peace: fair resource use in Europe and internationally will reduce tension over the distribution of resources, thus strengthening peace and security.
• Climate & environment & health: circularity will help slow down resource depletion, minimise pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and harm to biodiversity and health from extraction and processing of virgin materials and from production, consumption, and waste management.  Circularity will enable the achievement of our climate, pollution, and biodiversity objectives.
• Consumers: consumers will buy products that last longer and are of higher quality. They will save money by less frequently having to replace their products, by buying refurbished products, by using rental and sharing services.

>>>READ THE FULL PAPER HERE <<<