Ecopreneur.eu and its Dutch member MVO Nederland are advocating strong policy measures to accelerate and mainstream the circular economy in Europe. Representing over 3000 sustainable enterprises throughout Europe, mainly SMEs, our circular economy advocacy is furthermore supported by our EU Circular Economy Advocacy Group consisting of Tarkett France, International, Werner & Mertz, REMONDIS, Interface and HUMANA – all pioneering partner companies of MVO Nederland and/or BNW. Ecopreneur.eu is the only cross-sectoral business organisation advocating ambitious implementation of circular economy policies to achieve systemic change at the EU level and in the member states. This includes creating circular hubs across Europe, training on integrating circularity in procurement, economic incentives for producers and consumers, minimum requirements for circular design for all end products and services. As a member of the coordination group of European Commission / EESC Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform we have growing visibility in Brussels. Many of our policy recommendations were already adopted. Now it comes to implementation.
Our objective is implementation of strengthened EU and member states circular economy policies with measures that foster and mainstream circular business models. While we welcome the structure and many elements of the 2020 Package, we ask the EU and member states for ambitious implementation of additional circular economy policies, including especially:
- Increased support for circular economy in all Member States: including national “circularity hubs” for SMEs, aligned policies and increased access to finance for for SMEs;
- A massive training program “Buy Circular” for local, regional and national governments and companies on how to integrate circularity in procurement;
- Economic incentives for producers and consumers favouring circular products and services, including improved and expanded schemes for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a tax shift from labour to resources, and opening of the VAT directive for differentiation on the basis of circularity. Measures should include incentives for the uptake of secondary raw materials;
- Ban the worst products from the market: Expansion of the EU Ecodesign Directive with minimum requirements for circular design for all end products and services, starting with those with high resource intensity; a ban on microplastics.
Meanwhile we welcome the extension of the VAT rules for some sustainable products as a first step; the Fit for 55 objectives; the European Green Deal; European Circular Economy Stakeholders Platform (ECESP), to which we were appointed in the Coordination group; the call from the European Commission on member state to stop investing in incinerators; the Plastics Strategy (see position elsewhere on our website) and the call from the EU’s commissioner in charge of taxation to push forward with shifting taxes from labour to natural resources, carbon and energy. These are of great importance for boosting circular business and we hope for concrete follow-up.
If you are a sustainable company based in Europe, please consider joining our group to support and feed our advocacy for strong Circular Economy policies in the EU. Click for our 3-pager here. Our positions on Circular Economy Policy can be found under publications and by clicking on the Archive button below.