IL BIOECONOMISTA

The European Commission has adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan – one of the main blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth.

The new Action Plan announces initiatives along the entire life cycle of products, targeting for example their design, promoting circular economy processes, fostering sustainable consumption, and aiming to ensure that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible.

It introduces legislative and non-legislative measures targeting areas where action at the EU level brings real added value. The Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), Europe’s leading industry association putting innovation, circularity and sustainability at the heart of the European bioeconomy, applauded the publication of the European Commission’s new Circular Economy Action Plan.

“The Circular Economy Action Plan demonstrates the core role for the bio-based sector in the implementation of the EU’s Green Deal” says Dirk Carrez, BIC Executive Director. “The bio-based solutions we provide pave the way for a bio-based society constructed on the foundations of circularity and sustainability and not finite, fossil-based resources.”

“The bio-based industries, already recognised as pioneers in providing sustainable and circular solutions, stands ready to assist the European Commission in achieving the Action Plan’s objectives across several policy areas.

For instance, the sector is already actively putting alternative bio-based and bio-degradable products on the market. The proposed EU Strategy for Textiles also presents opportunities for Europe’s flourishing bio-based textiles sector, which is based on using sustainably sourced biomaterials such as wood cellulose, biobased fibers and other sustainable alternatives.

At the same time, while the bio-based industries are already proactively valorising industry’s side and residual streams, the sector also enables the valorisation of bio-waste by transforming it into bio-based products and materials.

The realisation of the next public-private partnership for the bio-based industries – ‘Circular Bio-based Europe’ – and the effective implementation of the EU’s Bioeconomy Strategy will, nonetheless, be crucial for guaranteeing the bio-based industries proactive role in providing these sustainable, bio-based solutions that make the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan truly circular.”