The new Circular Economy Package is out!
The European Commission released on the 2nd of December the long awaited Circular Economy Package.
A similar Circular Economy Package was released and then withdrawn by the Commission in late 2014 after its First Vice-President Timmermans said that his services would prepare “a more ambitious package”. After almost a year of waiting and several rounds of consultations with NGOs and industrial sectors (including EBA), the Commission released what should be the final version of the Circular Economy Package. You can find a summary and all Circular Economy documents here.
This package has two essential components:
- 4 legislative proposals related to waste – These are now in the hands of the European Parliament and the Council to decide. Two of them are relevant to the biogas sector, namely the revisions of the Waste Framework and Landfill Directives.
- A Communication listing future actions – The European Commission will take a series actions during the coming four years, some of which are legislative such as proposing the revision of the Fertilisers Regulation and others are non-legislative including disseminating best practices and better targeting EU funding towards specific sectors.
Anaerobic digestion is certainly at the core of a truly circular economy, as it this technique gives a second life to organic waste by turning it into renewable energy and organic fertilisers, the latter bringing back valuable nutrients and carbon to the soil. EBA welcomes the measures of this Package and it encourages both the Council and the European Parliament to match and surpass the Commission’s proposal in terms of ambition.
You can find in EBA’s website under the members only section a short summary with the key points relevant to anaerobic digestion and gasification in the Circular Economy Package.
