OPINION: ‘To measure is to know’. OK, it’s a witticism, but the latest IPCC report is once again very clear: we must take action now. There are fewer than eight years left until 2030 – and circularity, more specifically recycling, can be part of the solution in the short term! Governments, companies, consumers, producers: let’s work on this together.
In August 2021, the IPCC published the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report, warning that humanity is in ‘code red’. In many parts of the world, people and ecosystems already have their backs against the wall. Closer to home, dry summers, floods, forest fires, heatwaves and severe storms have made the climate crisis more tangible than ever before.
The new, second part of the IPCC report reminds us relentlessly of the serious impacts and risks that the warming world will have and is already having on people, nature, ecosystems and geopolitics. This report also exposes the social and societal consequences of the climate crisis. This second part also emphasises the urgency – that the worst risks can be avoided if we both take swift action to reduce greenhouse gases and increase spending to help people adapt to climate change.
The third part of the report, on climate change mitigation and solutions, will follow in early April. The full IPCC synthesis report will be presented in autumn 2022.
These reports are crucial to understanding the impacts of climate change and developing solutions that benefit both the environment and people. These scientific reports from the IPCC must be used as a basis for the formal negotiations of the UN conference, COP 27, in November, where countries are now expected to raise their climate ambitions, make them tangible and take climate action.
Waste can close the cycle
The problems are enormous and there is urgency, this report leaves no doubt about that. However, other recently published reports also give me hope: together we can still do something about this.
The recently published 2022 Circularity Gap Report shows that globally we consume 100 billion tonnes of raw materials per year and reuse only 8.6%. Since COP21 six years ago, we have consumed more than half a trillion tonnes of raw materials.
The equivalent weight of 14 elephants for every person in the world. That’s 70% more than the earth can create. Huge, in other words. The emissions from our overuse of new materials create emission levels incompatible with the Paris Agreement. This circularity gap (more than 90 percent of materials are lost forever!) is incredibly large, but at the same time it offers opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions in the ‘short term’ if we keep materials in the cycle, including through recycling.
Moreover, a recent study by the European Waste Federation FEAD, CE Delft and Prognos, among others, shows that annual CO2 emissions could fall by 150 million tonnes (compared to 2018) if we achieve the target of 65% recycling and a maximum of 10% waste to landfill in Europe and the UK. 150 million tonnes, just imagine, that’s more than the annual emissions of a country like the Netherlands (138 million tonnes in 2020).
So through consistent recycling and reuse of raw materials, the European and UK waste sector can make a huge contribution to Europe’s climate ambitions.
System changes around reusing materials and giving waste a new life are not only crucial for the transition to a circular economy and the key to meeting Europe’s climate targets, but also necessary to reduce the consumption footprint within the bounds of a liveable world.
Through consistent recycling and reuse of raw materials, the European and UK waste sector can make a huge contribution to Europe’s climate ambitions.
Waste no more… if the political will is there…
Despite serious scientific and empirical warnings, it seems that there are still many bottlenecks to achieving these potential CO2 savings. Measures and regulations are not keeping up or being taken fast enough to make a real difference.
For this, Europe, and also the UK, will have to show even more political will to further stimulate recycling capacity. Uniform and consistent signals such as government support for systems that enable the separate collection of more waste streams, quotas for the use of recycled content for production companies, more attention to eco-design and recyclability of products and bans on landfill and incineration.
England has an opportunity to further prioritise the circular economy when it publishes its Waste Strategy in April. Once launched this will allow regulators and businesses to embrace mandatory recycled content in products, strengthened eco-design and efficient waste shipments rules.
It is the momentum to turn burdensome legislation and tax systems into sustainable opportunities, to tackle things like working together to remove barriers to a circular economy. Granting the right (temporary) status to waste management, for example, would remove a huge bottleneck for buyers of recyclates.
Accept, tolerate a transition period before giving a definitive status to waste processing. Without a transition phase, innovation is nipped in the bud, every investor is driven away and a circular economy is impossible. This is a crushing responsibility for governments. If not, we will continue to lag behind and never complete the circle.
… and the market demands it
The obstacles to a well-functioning circular economy are easier to overcome than we think. Recycling, like most markets, is about supply and demand. The supply is stimulated by creating a clear normative regulatory framework.
However, this push by the government will not suffice. The producer also wants and needs to be more and more sustainable. Even the UK does not yet score high on circularity, while consumers might conclude that it has become commonplace. More ambitious and measurable objectives and transparent reporting by companies can bring about the necessary acceleration. And if the business community takes responsibility, governments can ensure that the economic playing field becomes level.
After all, this will enable consumers to make sustainable choices and, in addition to sparing raw materials, to make an important contribution to accelerating the circular economy.
The engine is there, we know the route. Now all we need is a level playing field with uniform rules. Only then will circularity win. Only then can we turn the tide.
Subscribe for free