{"id":72982,"date":"2020-03-20T07:38:42","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T06:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=72982"},"modified":"2020-03-17T13:22:53","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T12:22:53","slug":"new-circular-economy-action-plan-no-circular-economy-without-bioeconomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/new-circular-economy-action-plan-no-circular-economy-without-bioeconomy\/","title":{"rendered":"New Circular Economy Action Plan: no circular economy without bioeconomy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>\u201cEuropean Bioplastics (EUBP) welcomes the new Circular Economy Action Plan (nCEAP). It\u2019s an ambitious step forward to transform Europe into a circular economy\u201d, says Fran\u00e7ois de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics. \u201cAs EUBP, we especially endorse the European Commission\u2019s (EC) commitment to support the \u2018sustainable and circular bio-based sector through the implementation of the Bioeconomy Action Plan\u2019\u201d, adds de Bie. \u201cWe have long been criticizing the rather artificial separation of the circular economy and the bio-based economy. These two, however, are very much interlinked, and we are happy to see that this seems to have finally been understood\u201d, he comments on the nCEAP published by the EC on 11 March 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As to on-going and planned initiatives regarding plastics, notably with a focus on packaging, EUBP would, however, prefer a more differentiated approach from the Commission. \u201cWhile we certainly support measures to reduce (over)packaging and packaging waste as well as the drive to design packaging for re-use and recyclability, a mere focus on mechanical recycling and on introducing quotas for the use of recyclates is jumping to short\u201d, says Fran\u00e7ois de Bie. \u201cThis is particularly the case when it comes to food contact materials.\u201d According to EUBP, the announced establishment of rules for the safe recycling of plastic materials into food contact materials other than PET will not solve the health and safety issues associated with the use of recyclates. This applies in particular to the short to medium term. \u201cThere is a good reason why, today, recyclates other than PET are not admitted as food contact materials, as, currently, there is no way to guarantee the elimination of potentially hazardous legacy materials. Therefore, we strongly encourage the EC to support the use of sustainably sourced bio-based virgin material for packaging requiring food contact approval. This should be reflected in, for example, the guidance on eco-modulation of EPR fees. In general, recycling of plastic packaging needs to be understood in line with the WFD Art. 3 as mechanical, chemical or organic recycling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The EC\u2019s commitment to assess biodegradable and compostable plastics in order to determine which applications may be beneficial to the environment, is very much supported by EUBP. \u201cWe are convinced that a thorough assessment of EN 13432 certified biodegradable and compostable plastics packaging will eventually reach the conclusion that there are quite a few applications where compostability makes perfect sense\u201d, says de Bie. Packaging, which is prone to be highly contaminated with food waste, will not be mechanically recycled. Instead, in most cases, it will be incinerated, or even worse, landfilled. \u201cCompostable bioplastics help divert organic waste from landfills. The remedy can only be to allow such packaging to be composted together with the separately collected biowaste. Compost from separately collected bio-waste is an extremely valuable soil improver and nutrient supplier. It plays an important role in a circular economy by closing the organic cycle. We therefore welcome the mandatory separate biowaste collection by 2023\u201c, states Fran\u00e7ois de Bie.<\/p>\n<p>The recently published action plan aims at accelerating the transformational change required by the European Green Deal. \u201cWe see ourselves in a crucial role to help achieving the deal and the nCEAP as one of its key deliverables. The bioplastics industry is looking forward and willing to provide strong support\u201d, concludes Fran\u00e7ois de Bie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEuropean Bioplastics (EUBP) welcomes the new Circular Economy Action Plan (nCEAP). It\u2019s an ambitious step forward to transform Europe into a circular economy\u201d, says Fran\u00e7ois de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics. \u201cAs EUBP, we especially endorse the European Commission\u2019s (EC) commitment to support the \u2018sustainable and circular bio-based sector through the implementation of the Bioeconomy [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5838,5847,10416,12239,7105],"supplier":[435,2317],"class_list":["post-72982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-bioeconomy","tag-bioplastics","tag-circulareconomy","tag-compostability","tag-packaging","supplier-european-bioplastics-ev","supplier-european-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72982"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=72982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}