Action plan European Commission: Circular Economy

In December 2015, the European Commission presented an EU action plan for the Circular Economy – Closing the loop. The former European Commission also presented an action plan in 2014, but the new Commission took back the plan and introduced a new plan. The former plan was more ambitious, but the new one is more realistic. Since the moment of the introduction of the plan a lot has been written about the circular economy.

The Commission stated that a circular economy starts at the very beginning of a product’s life. Both the design phase and production processes have an impact on sourcing, resource use and waste generation throughout a product’s life. A better design can make products more durable or easier to repair, upgrade or remanufacture. It can help recyclers to disassemble products in order to recover valuable materials and components. Overall, it can help to save precious resources.