We must not waste our future
Today, as populations in other world regions gain the means to compete for global resources and raise their living standards, we know that this is just and fair.
Global extraction of metals, minerals, timber, land and soil, fresh water is expected to increase by 75% in the next 25 years, along with the growth of the global middle class.
This obliges us to face a new reality. With a dense population and few resources, it is essential for Europe to reduce its dependence on the Earth’s finite resources. We need Europe to become a sustainable economy, and above all, a circular — or green — economy.
Our economies today are linear: we mine (or import), manufacture, use and throw away. A shocking 80% of what we produce is used once and thrown away.
In a circular economy, one industry’s waste becomes another’s raw material. Waste becomes a resource, a secondary raw material. In place of built-in obsolescence, companies need to take responsibility for product aftercare, repairing and recycling where needed.
An added benefit is that this will create jobs in Europe and revitalise the industrial sector.
It’s not a small change. It represents a major shift in the way we work and live. It takes a long time to change a ship’s course, and the economy is about the biggest ship we could attempt to turn. But we did something similar with climate change. Industrialised countries recognised our contribution to CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and pledged to change. The European Union led the way in committing to cut fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency and the share of sustainable energy in power generation.
A new industrial dynamism has grown up around the low-carbon economy. Our eco-industries are the success stories of the crisis years. Businesses in waste treatment and recycling, water treatment and supply, and renewable energies have been among the most resilient and fast-growing sectors in recent times. There is ample evidence that economic growth and resource use can be de-coupled. You don’t need the second to achieve the first.
The EU has set a target of making the European economy sustainable by 2050. Our task is to set in place the policies that provide for economic growth while reducing our consumption of natural resources. This is why we are working on a review of EU waste policy. The main objective will be to stop the waste of valuable secondary raw materials, and make sure they are re-used, recycled and re-injected into the European economy. Among our goals we want to bring about a decline in waste generation and combat food waste; make sure that recycled waste is used as a major, reliable source of raw material; and reserve landfilling for waste that can be neither recycled nor recovered.
Above all, as individuals, we can all board the ship and prepare for a way of life that doesn’t depend on borrowed time and depleted resources, and exceeds the means of the planet.
There are policy steps to be taken, but there are small personal ones as well. We can take steps to reduce waste each day, sharing, selling or donating unwanted items, and buying durable goods rather than things we will be fed up with before next season. The Commission’s Generation Awake website has more tips and background on how our buying choices make a big difference. We aren’t going to move to a society where consumption is a thing of the past. But we do need change — we need to move to a vibrant circular economy that respects the limits of nature, makes the most of natural resources, creates jobs in local communities, and ensures our long-term wellbeing and quality of life.
www.generationawake.eu/en/
www.facebook.com/generationawake
Richard Collins is away
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