Circular economy and productive reform

by Lambros Bouklis*

At the eleventh hour for the country’s economic survival, the production reform and the adoption of a concrete and acceptable by the EU sustainable development model - which would be consistent with the Greek reality- is absolutely necessary.

Coincidently, an important opportunity is being presented for Greece as the European Commission, since 2014, has started the legislative preparation for the official turn into a Circular Economy. By publishing, as early as April 2015, the relevant roadmap and by putting its plan on a quarterly consultation just a few days ago, in line with the Europe 2020 strategy, it targets towards a formal application of legislated frameworks and actions at an EU level within 2015.

According to the Commission, Circular Economy aims at the overall sustainable use of resources (resource management), reaching, beyond the waste management, almost all sectors of the European economy. The co-existence of innovative entrepreneurship, new technology, policy with vision and “goal-setting” is a necessary and sufficient condition for the EU objectives’ achievement at national level.

The unsustainable use of resources causes on one hand environmental damage and on the other leads to a productive and financial deadlock in a worldwide context. The global economy uses natural resources that equals to 1.5 of our planet. In 2030, this figure is estimated to accede to 2 planets. We have exceeded the development limits planet earth is able to provide us. The UN predicts that the global human population will increase from 7 to 9 billion in the period 2011-2050.

The annual consumption of mineral resources, fossil fuels and biomass is expected to double by 2050, reaching 140 million tons. This is a result of the combination of a growing world population, of the disposable income, the increasing variety of products available and also the ever shorter products’ life. As the European Commission reports, we can have -in a global scale- at least the same living standards as the ones we have today by using only one tenth of the resources used for the current period.

Europe is more dependent on imported resources than any other region in the world. 40% of all materials used in the EU are imported. For certain strategic resources such as minerals and food, the rate is even higher. Improving resource efficiency will benefit the economy and also our security.

Increase of resource efficiency by 30% will increase EU’s GDP by 1% and will create 2 million new jobs by 2030, according to official estimates of the European Commission. To achieve this, change is required in the design of products, emphasis to be given on preventing waste and to their optimum reuse. The efficient and effective use of resources, both in production and in the supply chain, will reduce dependencies and result in cost savings of materials, products and services.

The rational design and implementation of circular economy, particularly in Greece, could create, with the exploitation of the planned and funded European programs of the current period, new innovative and extrovert businesses and new jobs, as it is already happening in various EU countries (e.g. UK, Netherlands, Germany).

According to official data of the new National Plan for Waste Management, in 2011 in Greece were produced 35 million tons of waste (all types), while in 2020 the government anticipates over 39 million. In this way, their utilization will create job opportunities and produce income.