Press Release: Circular Economy Pioneers ask for strengthening the Circular Economy package
Rotterdam, 5.1.2016: As part of the conference „Unwrapping the Package – towards a Circular Economy in Europe”, which takes place today and tomorrow in Rotterdam, Ecopreneur.eu presents the Circular Economy from the practical perspective of its member companies.
While stakeholders from business, civil society and public authorities across the EU discuss for two days challenges and opportunities of a Circular Economy (CE) in Europe and the potential impact of the new proposal from the EU Commission, circular economy pioneers ask for a much more ambitious and strengthened CE package. After the opening by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and an introduction to the CE Package by the European Commission, Katharina Reuter presented the experience with circular economy from a business perspective on behalf of Ecopreneur.eu. She outlined how sustainably acting companies are using CE in their daily work. Several pioneers from the field of circular economy are members of Ecopreneur.eu, including Desso, Interface, Repurpose, Giroflex, tomtoy, Rockwool or Alliander. Ecopreneur.eu is representing more than 1.500 sustainable SMEs and companies in Europe. Regarding this large network of information, Katharina Reuter stated that: „Green companies need meaningful actions on creating clean material cycles, making Green Public Procurement criteria mandatory and moving Ecodesign towards non-energy related products. We need a clear differentiation down to product and company level to incentivize companies to become frontrunners.”
For the transformation of the European Economy courageous legislation is necessary: “The pioneering companies are not afraid of regulation and legislation in the field of circular economy.”, Reuter said. Arthur ten Wolde, CE expert of De Groene Zaak, the Dutch member organization of Ecopreneur.eu, added: „Strong government policies are needed to accelerate and mainstream the circular economy. Most important is to move forward with ambitious implementation of the current circular economy package.“ He furthermore urges the EU to strengthen the package with ambitious targets and measures covering the full circle, including financial incentives for consumers.
A joint position paper “Ambitious targets and consumer incentives needed for circular economy“ by all five member associations of Ecopreneur.eu (Entreprendre Vert (France), Grüne Wirtschaft (Austria), UnternehmensGrün e.V. (Germany), De Groene Zaak (Netherlands), the Sustainable Economy Association (Belgium) and Greenbiz (Spain) representing more than 1500 SMEs in Europe, is available on the website of Ecopreneur.eu.
