argomento: News del mese - Diritto Internazionale e Comunitario

Articoli Correlati: Circular economy

The European Union produces more than 2.5 billion tonnes of waste every year. The EU is currently updating its legislation on waste management to promote a shift to a more sustainable model known as the circular economy. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. In this way, the life cycle of products is extended. This is a departure from the traditional, linear, economic model, which is based on a take-make-consume-throw away pattern. This model is comprehensive of planned obsolescence as well. The European Parliament has called for measures to tackle this practice. In addition, extracting and using raw materials has a major impact on the environment. Measures such as waste prevention, eco-design and re-use could save EU companies €600 billion - equivalent to 8% of annual turnover - while also reducing total annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2-4%. Moving towards a more circular economy could deliver benefits such as reducing pressure on the environment, improving the security of the supply of raw materials, increasing competitiveness, stimulating innovation, boosting economic growth, creating jobs (580,000 jobs in the EU alone).