Politics

| The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced changes to EU financial tools today to help circular economy projects and businesses secure funding and support the realisation of EU climate goals, as UN climate negotiations draw to a close in Paris. The changes build on the EU’s Circular Economy Strategy launched last week and result from EIB recommendations published today at the Financing the Circular Economy conference hosted under Luxembourg’s Presidency of the EU.

| The European Recycling Industries Confederation (EuRIC) welcomes the publication of the circular economy package by the European Commission as a first step to support sustainable growth in Europe. Nevertheless, there is clear room for improvement on a number of topics, including recycling targets and their calculation method, stricter measures to phase out landfill and incineration of recyclables, the clarity of new provisions as legal certainty is crucial for recycling businesses.

| The Bureau of International Recycling emphasizes the importance of recycling for the reduction of CO2 emissions on the sidelines of COP21 in Paris.

| As announced earlier this year, the European Commission has published their new circular economy package today.

| The European Council for Plasticisers and Intermediates – ECPI - is disappointed by the European Parliament’s plenary vote against the Commission proposal to authorise the recycling of soft PVC containing DEHP. The final decision will be taken by the European Commission which is not obligated to follow the European Parliament’s opinion.

| New data on plastics waste management shows an important growth in plastics waste collection.

| Although volumes, prices and confidence are all down, BIR Plastics Committee Chairman Surendra Patawari Borad of Belgium-based Gemini Corporation NV still spied “some silver linings in the grey clouds” for plastics recyclers.

| German WEEE law ElektroG came into force on October 24, bringing PV modules under the scope of mandatory Producer responsibility.

| The combined European metals industry today demonstrated their support for the upcoming Circular Economy Package through a common position paper. In Boosting the Circular Management of Metals, the metals sector highlights how it looks forward to an ambitious Circular Economy Package supporting growth, innovation, competitiveness and jobs.

| On 24 November 2015, the annual Petcore Europe Conference will take place in Brussels. The conference brings together more than 100 experts and leaders from the whole PET value chain in Europe and beyond as well as representatives from the European institutions. This year, the conference will focus on the four key aspects Sustainability, Circular Economy, Innovation and Globalisation.

| Trina Solar, SunPower, Solar Frontier, JinkoSolar, Conergy, aleo solar and Producer compliance and waste management scheme PV Cycle have expressed their concern about companies’ negligence to comply with legal requirements of EU-wide WEEE legislations.

| The NGO Shipbreaking Platform strongly welcomes IndustriALL's "Campaign to clean up Shipbreaking - the world's most dangerous Job".

| PV cycle has announced to have joined the Dutch Monitoring Council as one of the founding members. With the goal of ensuring that the WEEE targets are met, the Monitoring Council plays a pivotal role in defining procedures and standards for high-efficiency collection and recycling in The Netherlands.

| Eurofer files formal complaint against state aid for Europe’s largest steel plant and demands a more effective EU trade defence policy.