EU commission wants ban on destroying unsold goods to tackle waste

Ban
Brussels, March 11, 2020 (dpa/NAN) A ban on destroying unsold goods and promoting the right to repair for electronic products are among the measures floated in the European Commission’s new plan to tackle the squandering of finite resources.

The EU Commissioner of Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, said this on Wednesday in Brussels while presenting the “Circular Economy” action plan.

“The linear growth model of take, make, use and discard has reached its limits,” Sinkevicius said.

Around half of all greenhouse gases come from resource extraction and processing, according to the commission, and only 12 per cent of materials and resources in discarded products are reintroduced into the economy at present.

To move towards a more sustainable model, the commission wants the use of single-use products to fall, to see more recycling, and to prolong the lifespan of devices.

The Circular Economy plan covers electronics, batteries and vehicles, packaging, textiles, construction and food.

It omits concrete targets and details at present, but could put the EU executive on a collision course with companies forced to adapt their practices.

U.S. tech giant Apple has criticised a similar planned EU initiative on the standardisation of phone chargers so that they could be used by devices from different brands, intended to reduce electronic waste.

The EU has pledged to take its carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and the EU executive is proposing a number of laws and initiatives to help make this reality. (dpa/NAN)
FAT/MST

Edited by Fatima Sule/Muhammad Suleiman Tola