Politics

| According to a report by the World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey, applying circular economy principles to global plastic packaging flows could transform the plastics economy and drastically reduce negative externalities such as leakage into oceans.

| In 2014, 84% of the 25 billion pounds of toxic chemical waste managed at the nation's industrial facilities was not released into the environment due to the use of preferred waste management practices like recycling, energy recovery and treatment, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report.

| According to the Norwegian Environment Agency, Norway has generated 11.2 million tonnes of waste in 2013. This was an increase of 5 per cent from the year before. Since 1995, the total waste volume in Norway has increased by more than 50 per cent.

| The European Recycling Industries Confederation (EuRIC) voiced European steel recyclers’ views during a side-event of the United Nations conference on climate change COP21.

| 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.