Another year under the sign of the Circular Economy Package and especially the Waste Legislative Proposals is near its end! Two years after their publication, in the early hours of 18 December, the Estonian Presidency reached a provisional agreement with representatives of the European Parliament on all four legislative proposals of the waste package.
The trialogue result is a strong political commitment, still it is provisional – as the Council made it clear in their press release: they will ‘assess’ the proposal and confirm it before the vote in both institutions. In due course the formal adoption process will unfold, with votes required both in the Parliament and Council, possibly within Q1/Q2 of 2018, after which the translation process will follow.
Of course, the right legislation in place is of crucial importance. It is yet to be seen in more details what final agreements have been reached. We could only say that If appropriately developed and implemented, this revised waste legislation could prove a unique opportunity for Europe to achieve its transition to a fully circular economy – conserving our precious natural resources, creating jobs, and generating growth for years to come.
While the CEP was THE TOPIC of the last two years, the last two months were also full of events and other developments for us. EXPRA is actively participating in different initiatives and projects, as for example the Advisory Board of LIFE+ EPS SURE project (for transforming fish boxes into new food packages) the Steering Committee of Food SCP RT and the Steering Committee of the CEFLEX Project, to name some, contributing with our expertise and knowledge and trying to find efficient solutions.
During the fall General Assembly meeting in November, EXPRA welcomed its 26th member, namely the Icelandic Recycling Fund. As you can see in our News from members’ section, apart from the recovery and recycling targets implementation, there are numerous national and local information and public awareness campaigns implemented every year by each EXPRA member. We at EXPRA see these activities as a major prerequisite for the implementation of our mission: to save resources and care for the environment, without making a profit out of it.
As we are looking forward to the new challenges, awaiting us in 2018, I would like to wish you relaxed holidays, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Enjoy your reading!