The plenary session of the European Parliament (EP) on Jul. 2 approved the resolution for a circular economy passed in June by its environment committee. This recommends binding reduction targets for municipal, commercial and industrial waste and encourages recycling.

The EP vote is planned to be a template for circular economy legislation to be tabled by the European Commission (EC) later this year. At the beginning of 2015, the EC removed waste proposals from the package proposed in July 2014, but promised to reinstate it at a later date.

In particular, resolution foresees increasing resource efficiency by 30% up to 2030, compared with 2014. It also calls for a ban on incineration of recyclable and biodegradable waste by 2020 and a gradual ban on landfilling of most waste by 2020, as well as an increase in recycling targets to include at least 70% of municipal solid waste and 80% of packaging waste by 2030.

Finnish MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen, who authored the resolution, called its proposals “a paradigm shift, a systemic change, as well as a huge, hidden business opportunity,” as they would allow a new business ecosystem to emerge.”

According to an estimate by the last European Commission, improving resource use could lead to net savings of around €600 billion for EU businesses, public authorities and consumers, while also reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2-4%. It also calculated a 30% increase in resource productivity by 2030, which could boost European GDP by nearly 1% and create 2 million sustainable jobs.