European businesses and citizens produce around 2.3 billion tonnes of waste per year, mainly from construction, mining and industry. At the same time, 224.5 million tonnes of household waste were produced in 2020, representing 1.2 kilograms per day and per person in Europe.

Globally, natural resources are now extracted three times faster than in 1970. Under the effect of rapid urbanization and population growth, the World Bank states that the amount of waste produced each year in the world is expected to reach 3.4 billion tonnes over the next three decades.

In this context, the concept of circular economy takes root in the publication of the Club of Rome report entitled The limits to growth, or Meadows Report, in 1972. The notion of sustainable development will be formalized in the Bruntland report in 1987. 

The circular economy is historically based on the recovery of this waste, considered as a new resource. But to achieve this, waste recovery operations (reuse, reuse, recycling, energy recovery) require a certain number of conditions to be met which go beyond recycling alone (eco-design, treatment of hazardous substances, etc.). Consequently, the minimum definition of the circular economy which would cover only recycling operations does not meet the current challenges and objectives linked to the environmental transition and the carbon neutrality objectives of the European economy by 2050.

In its broadest sense, the notion of circular economy must include the entire life cycle of the product, by integrating the limitation of the resources consumed for its production, and the extension of its life, thus strengthening the sustainability of the chain. of production. According to ADEME, the circular economy can be defined “as an economic system of exchange and production which, at all stages of the life cycle of products (goods and services), aims to increase the efficiency of use of resources and reduce the impact on the environment while developing the well-being of individuals ”.

The Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences have highlighted the necessary transformation of our model of society. The health crisis has highlighted in particular, in a context of a global shortage of certain drugs, health equipment and raw materials, the interdependence of markets and the fragility of supply chains. This observation of a socio-economic model that is at the end of its rope should lead us to new ambitions in terms of carbon neutrality, of which the development of the circular economy can be a lever.

As the driving force behind the European economy, the linear consumption and production model is no longer compatible with the imperatives of the European Union's environmental transition. It is now becoming necessary to do more with less. The EU understood this and decided to set an example regarding the transition of its model towards a circular economy, through its first action plan for the circular economy in 2015 and the new plan, adopted within the framework of the Green Deal, in 2020.

In terms of economic and environmental policy, the EU, through the critical mass of its market, its high number of consumers and its skills, constitutes the relevant scale for effectively guiding public policies in this area. In order to support these environmental, economic and geopolitical transitions in the circular economy, the EU must move forward towards the harmonization of the regulations and practices in force within the single market (I), the strengthening of public-private synergies (II) and the establishment of fiscal and financial incentives (III).

For more informations, visit the think tank Confrontation Europe