Mr Palmer-Jones, who is also the president of European waste management industry body FEAD, made the comments at the Energy from Waste Conference in London last week (24 February).
The Circular Economy package, which was adopted by the European Commission in December, contains proposals to increase recycling targets to 65% by 2030, as well as plans to ‘harmonise’ the way that recycling data is reported across the continent (see letsrecycle.com story).
The proposals will be discussed by politicians within the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers later this year, and if approved, could be adopted as official EU policy, replacing existing legislation on waste and packaging.
Demand
While broadly welcomed from within the waste sector, critics of the package, including Mr Palmer-Jones, have warned that the proposals do not go far enough to stimulate demand for recovered materials.
And, speaking on Wednesday, he added that he fears that advances in consumption and design needed to embed ‘more circular’ habits may be too far in the future to make a difference.
“When I speak to Unilever and others they talk about more intelligent packaging being 10 years away,” he said. “That is the time it takes to re-tool. That is why I fear that the circular economy will fail to materialise unless there is a radical change in world politics or a strong policy bridge that will allow us to make that up.”
“The Circular Economy has its eyes on 2030 and that is too long away. I fear we [the waste industry] will have to continue in the pragmatic manner, coping alone.”
Also during the conference, delegates heard that proposals to harmonise the recording of waste data across the EU could affect the recycling rates registered by some of the top performing Member States (see letsrecycle.com story).
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