European circular targets for reducing resource use are urgently needed

These objectives help producers to reduce the use of raw materials for their products. The availability of raw materials is currently under severe pressure due to Putin’s war in Ukraine. When the COVID pandemic struck in full force in 2020, many countries went into 'lockdown'. It exposed just how dependent the Netherlands and the rest of Europe are on a constant external supply of raw materials. The container ship Ever Given, which became stuck in the Suez Canal in 2021, disrupted the supply of essential raw materials, materials, and products for months. This further highlighted our dependence on foreign imports. The war in Ukraine is now putting our dependency on raw materials into sharp focus worldwide. The use of Russian gas and oil has been the focus of attention in Europe for months. Raw material use leads to climate change and biodiversity loss There has been a discussion for a much longer time about the use of raw materials because their extraction and processing into materials and products lead to many environmental problems. The same applies to the processing of discarded materials and products. A few figures from the European Commission's new circular economy action plan illustrate this: Our raw material use is responsible for half of all greenhouse gases, the drivers of climate change. More than 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress is attributable to the extraction and processing of raw material use. Global raw material use is expected to double in the next 40 years. Waste production is projected to increase by more than 70% as a result. Numerous other environmental problems are also related to our raw material use, such as the plastic soup in the oceans and the nitrogen crisis. Reducing our raw material use for the benefit of the environment was therefore a policy priority before it also became geopolitically urgent. It was already central to the Dutch policy programme ‘A Circular Economy in the Netherlands by 2050’ from 2016, and in Europe's new circular economy action plan from 2020. Objectives help producers on the way to fewer raw materials Our raw material use can largely be traced back to the production and consumption of products. Consumers have a role to play through their purchasing behavior, but are also dependent on the range of products available. So the commitment of producers is particularly crucial in reducing our raw material use. Both the Dutch government and the European Commission want producers to make their products more sustainable. For this, producers need guidance and certainty. Objectives play an important role in this. They provide direction on how producers can make their products more sustainable. Recycling objectives insufficient for fewer raw materials Producers are already responsible for their products after they have been discarded by consumers. They are already required to recycle at least a portion of that product waste. Legally binding recycling objectives oblige producers to do so. Tightening the recycling objectives ensures that more and more discarded products enter the recycling process (more recycling). But recycling objectives do not ensure that the recycled materials from the recycling process are also used again to make the same new products (better recycling). Recycled (secondary) materials currently usually lack the quality for this. Consequently, raw materials remain necessary to produce new (primary) materials. In practice, indeed, more product waste is being recycled, but the volume of new (primary) materials and therefore our demand for raw materials continued to grow until the corona crisis. In short, recycling objectives alone are insufficient to significantly reduce our raw material use. Five European countries call for additional objectives for prevention, reuse, and recycled content Recycled materials from the recycling process must achieve sufficient quality to replace primary materials in new, similar products. Europe can steer this with so-called 'recycled content' objectives. These set minimum requirements for the share of recycled materials in new products. Alongside recycling objectives (more recycling) and recycled content objectives (better recycling), objectives are also needed for more reuse and for less product use (prevention). The environment ministers of Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden therefore urged the European Commission in a joint letter earlier this year to include such objectives in the European Packaging Directive. The Packaging Directive is currently being revised by the European Commission. The European Commission was already considering including objectives for reuse.

These objectives help producers to reduce the use of raw materials for their products. The availability of raw materials is currently under severe pressure due to Putin’s war in Ukraine.

When the COVID pandemic struck in full force in 2020, many countries went into 'lockdown'. It exposed just how dependent the Netherlands and the rest of Europe are on a constant external supply of raw materials. The container ship Ever Given, which became stuck in the Suez Canal in 2021, disrupted the supply of essential raw materials, materials, and products for months. This further highlighted our dependence on foreign imports.

The war in Ukraine is now putting our dependency on raw materials into sharp focus worldwide. The use of Russian gas and oil has been the focus of attention in Europe for months.

Raw material use leads to climate change and biodiversity loss

There has been a discussion for a much longer time about the use of raw materials because their extraction and processing into materials and products lead to many environmental problems. The same applies to the processing of discarded materials and products. A few figures from the new circular economy action plan of the European Commission illustrate this:

Our raw material use is responsible for half of all greenhouse gases, the drivers of climate change. More than 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress is attributable to the extraction and processing of raw material use. Global raw material use is expected to double in the next 40 years. Waste production is projected to increase by more than 70% as a result.

Numerous other environmental problems are also related to our raw material use, such as the plastic soup in the oceans and the nitrogen crisis. Reducing our raw material use for the benefit of the environment was therefore a policy priority before it also became geopolitically urgent. It was already central to the Dutch policy programme ‘A Circular Economy in the Netherlands by 2050’ from 2016, and in Europe's new circular economy action plan from 2020.

Objectives help producers on the way to fewer raw materials

Our raw material use can largely be traced back to the production and consumption of products. Consumers have a role to play through their purchasing behavior, but are also dependent on the range of products available. So the commitment of producers is particularly crucial in reducing our raw material use.

Both the Dutch government and the European Commission want producers to make their products more sustainable. For this, producers need guidance and certainty. Objectives play an important role in this. They provide direction on how producers can make their products more sustainable.

Recycling objectives insufficient for fewer raw materials

Producers are already responsible for their products after they have been discarded by consumers. They are already required to recycle at least a portion of that product waste. Legally binding recycling objectives oblige producers to do so.

Tightening the recycling objectives ensures that more and more discarded products enter the recycling process (more recycling). But recycling objectives do not ensure that the recycled materials from the recycling process are also used again to make the same new products (better recycling). Recycled (secondary) materials currently usually lack the quality for this. Consequently, raw materials remain necessary to produce new (primary) materials.

In practice, indeed, more product waste is being recycled, but the volume of new (primary) materials and therefore our demand for raw materials continued to grow until the corona crisis. In short, recycling objectives alone are insufficient to significantly reduce our raw material use.

Five European countries call for additional objectives for prevention, reuse, and recycled content

Recycled materials from the recycling process must achieve sufficient quality to replace primary materials in new, similar products. Europe can steer this with so-called 'recycled content' objectives. These set minimum requirements for the share of recycled materials in new products.

Alongside recycling objectives (more recycling) and recycled content objectives (better recycling), objectives are also needed for more reuse and for less product use (prevention). The environment ministers of Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Sweden therefore urged the European Commission in a joint letter earlier this year to include such objectives in the European Packaging Directive.

The Packaging Directive is currently being revised by the European Commission. The European Commission was already considering including objectives for reuse. The five countries are asking the European Commission to add objectives for prevention (less product use) and for recycled content to this.

Alongside the European Packaging Directive, the European Commission is also revising the European Waste Framework Directive. If the European Commission decides on separate objectives for prevention (less product use), reuse, and more and better recycling, then all member states, including the Netherlands, will be obliged to adopt these objectives.

Four circular objectives for less raw material use

On the initiative of Recycling Netwerk and Het Groene Brein, a group of Dutch academics has developed a systemology to establish circular objectives for product groups that together reduce the raw material use for those product groups. This concerns circular objectives for prevention (less product use), more reuse, and more and better recycling.

The systemology consists of 12 criteria that these circular objectives must meet, and calculation rules to establish quantitative objectives for a product group for prevention (less product use), more reuse, and more and better recycling. The criteria are based on policy documents and literature.

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To demonstrate how the systemology works, the academics applied it to glass packaging. The format for the circular objectives for glass packaging in a given target year is as follows:

Prevention objectives: Maximum quantity in kilotonnes of new glass packaging placed on the market to be used

Reuse objectives: Minimum share of reusable glass packaging in the quantity of new glass packaging placed on the market

Recycling objective (more recycling): The minimum share of glass packaging waste to be recycled, measured against new glass packaging placed on the market

Recycled content objective (better recycling): Minimum share of recycled materials in the quantity of new glass packaging placed on the market (as a measure of the quality of these recycled materials)

The recycling objectives remain identical to the already existing recycling objectives, and the reuse objectives and recycled content objectives follow the same format.

Circular objectives for glass packaging as an example

The example for glass packaging shows that multiple combinations of prevention, reuse, and more and better recycling lead to the same reduction in raw materials. This gives the government space to determine the most desirable combination of circular objectives in consultation with producers and stakeholders.

For the glass packaging example, reuse turns out to be almost as effective as prevention. This is because reusable glass packaging, currently mainly beer bottles, can be reused 20 to 30 times. For other packaging and products, if they are reused at all, the number of reuses is usually much lower. Prevention is then by far more effective than reuse.

Through more and better recycling, raw material use can theoretically be reduced completely, but in practice, not entirely. Compared to packaging made of other materials, the recycling of glass packaging scores well, but much still needs to be done before achieving a maximum of around 60% raw material reduction as a realistically achievable target.

Prevention as fewer products in kilotonnes (not necessarily in number)

Prevention here always means less product use by weight. This can be achieved by using fewer products in terms of numbers, such as through car-sharing or smartphones with many functions in one (phone, camera, internet, etc.), but also by designing products to be more material-efficient.

European and Dutch policy usually uses prevention as a synonym for waste reduction. With waste reduction, the European Commission indirectly aims to achieve raw material reduction. It has already been argued above that recycling, as a waste reduction method, does not necessarily lead to raw material reduction. This is why the systemology for circular objectives is so valuable. It steers directly towards less raw material use.

The five academics also advocate for systematically using prevention in the sense of less product use in the future. Prevention (less product use), reuse, and (more and better) recycling are then strategies to reduce both waste and raw materials.

Het Groene Brein

The group of academics consists of José Potting from Recycling Netwerk Benelux, Ernst Worrell from Utrecht University, Arnold Tukker from Leiden University, Antoine Heideveld from Het Groene Brein, Marko Hekkert from Utrecht University, and Jacqueline Cramer from Utrecht University and former Minister of the Environment.

The Groene Brein forms the bridge between science and practice within the framework of the circular economy and other sustainable transitions. With its network of 170 academics from all kinds of disciplines, we make concrete steps towards a sustainable, inclusive economy.