1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,360 The world's economy is consuming more and more natural resources, those which come directly 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:18,080 from nature such as fish or wood, and non-renewable raw materials like coal and petroleum. 3 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:22,400 This tapping of resources is accelerating at the same rate as economic growth, which 4 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:28,600 is based on the use, transformation and consumption of natural resources. 5 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:34,280 The European Union is one of the largest economic blocs in the world, and accordingly it is 6 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:38,000 one of the largest users of natural resources. 7 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,720 Many of these resources need to be imported from third countries. 8 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:46,160 Many of them can be produced internally. 9 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:55,040 In the world, and in the EU, we are facing a situation where, despite some back-settings, 10 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:59,280 economies are growing and growing very fast, and that means they are using more and more 11 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:00,400 and more resources. 12 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,080 That is a truth we cannot avoid. 13 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:07,840 The problem is the environmental impact of the exploitation of these resources. 14 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:12,160 The more we consume, the greater the environmental pressure. 15 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:17,840 For example, petrol consumed by vehicle traffic produces carbon dioxide emissions and consequently 16 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,960 contributes to global warming. 17 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:24,760 This phenomenon is on the increase, even though the environmental performance of each vehicle 18 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:27,360 taken separately is improving. 19 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:34,600 Today we have products, as some people call them, as mobile carriers of pollution. 20 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:39,480 That means if you have a product, in many cases the main pollution is not created in 21 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:45,200 the production phase, it comes during the use phase and later on when the end of use 22 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:46,400 is reached. 23 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:53,160 So that is why environmental pressures grow with the growing economy. 24 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:58,000 The more we consume, even if the individual product becomes better, we still have more 25 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,040 pressure on the environment because we have more products. 26 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,920 One of the most visible environmental impacts of the use of resources is the increase in 27 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,960 the amount of waste. 28 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:15,240 Every European produces 500 kilos of household waste a year, most of which is placed in landfills. 29 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:23,360 In spite of recycling regulations, this mountain of waste is not shrinking in Europe. 30 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:26,880 Kees Willinger is a waste management consultant to the European Commission. 31 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,880 For him, this phenomenon is simple to explain. 32 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,720 Even if you have seen that in the last ten years the total amount of recycling has doubled 33 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:40,720 – 100% more recycling than ten years ago – you still see that the amount of waste 34 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:48,360 going to landfill is not going down dramatically because there are more people and the economy 35 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,400 is growing so there is more waste generated. 36 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,240 Industry shares that view. 37 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:58,840 Bill Duncan, who advises businesses on the use of natural resources, estimates that the 38 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:04,200 environmental impact of economic growth has to be better controlled in the future. 39 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:08,060 It's really a subset of sustainable development. 40 00:03:08,060 --> 00:03:16,180 How can we continue to protect and improve standards of living across an expanding EU 41 00:03:16,180 --> 00:03:22,380 through economic growth and jobs but without the environmental impacts we've had from 42 00:03:22,380 --> 00:03:24,260 growth in the past? 43 00:03:24,260 --> 00:03:30,220 That's the trick we have to find the answer for. 44 00:03:30,220 --> 00:03:34,300 The European Commission has been working for a number of years to find that answer, which 45 00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:39,180 today takes the form of two strategies, one on the sustainable use of resources and the 46 00:03:39,180 --> 00:03:41,080 other on waste management. 47 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:47,620 We cannot find the solution in simply reducing the amount of resources that we are using. 48 00:03:47,620 --> 00:03:48,920 The reason is very simple. 49 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:54,300 We have, for example, new member states in the Union who need to build up enormous amounts 50 00:03:54,300 --> 00:03:59,180 of infrastructure, housing, durable goods. 51 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:02,900 It is clear that that will take additional and more resources. 52 00:04:02,900 --> 00:04:06,060 If we look worldwide, the picture is even more dramatic. 53 00:04:06,060 --> 00:04:10,860 Think of huge growing economies like China or India, where there is no doubt that they 54 00:04:10,860 --> 00:04:13,300 will use more and more resources. 55 00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:21,780 Some statistics tell us that resources used by tonnage will quadruple until 2050. 56 00:04:21,780 --> 00:04:27,060 Economic growth goes hand in hand with environmental objectives. 57 00:04:27,060 --> 00:04:34,500 We can achieve both the growth of our economy and the increase in employment, and at the 58 00:04:34,500 --> 00:04:40,320 same time a good environment and good health for our citizens. 59 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,000 The big challenge is decoupling. 60 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,860 So far, regulations have succeeded in slowing the increase in environmental damage, which 61 00:04:47,860 --> 00:04:50,760 is already slower than that of economic growth. 62 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,300 But in the future, the Commission wants to change radically the environmental impact 63 00:04:54,300 --> 00:04:57,900 curve while maintaining economic growth. 64 00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:00,700 That's what's called absolute decoupling. 65 00:05:00,700 --> 00:05:07,140 We have to aim for absolute decoupling, that's to say maintaining the environmental impact 66 00:05:07,140 --> 00:05:15,700 as flat as we can, zero or even less, very difficult in some situations, and then working 67 00:05:15,700 --> 00:05:19,020 for economic growth to move ahead of that. 68 00:05:19,020 --> 00:05:25,700 I think in many sectors, even if we all agree that absolute decoupling has to be the long-term 69 00:05:25,700 --> 00:05:31,220 goal, we're going to have first to show some relative decoupling. 70 00:05:31,220 --> 00:05:36,460 So the solution must be to use our resources more efficiently in the terms of making more 71 00:05:36,460 --> 00:05:42,060 of a given amount, but also, and that is the added value of the strategy, in the terms 72 00:05:42,060 --> 00:05:49,660 of creating less environmental pressure, or impact as we call it, per given tonnage. 73 00:05:49,660 --> 00:05:56,460 Obviously the question is how to achieve this decoupling in all sectors of the European economy. 74 00:05:56,460 --> 00:06:00,860 To start with, the Commission proposes a phase of analysis by experts in study groups at 75 00:06:00,860 --> 00:06:07,260 European level and in the framework of the United Nations. 76 00:06:07,260 --> 00:06:12,020 One thing is certain, the solution will require technological progress and the use of financial 77 00:06:12,020 --> 00:06:14,380 instruments. 78 00:06:14,380 --> 00:06:21,220 I think we're reaching the time where we could apply the cost of the environmental 79 00:06:21,220 --> 00:06:24,660 impact to the price of the product. 80 00:06:24,660 --> 00:06:29,980 You could, for example, look at two cars and say, well, this car consumes less, has fewer 81 00:06:29,980 --> 00:06:34,420 emissions, therefore has no surcharge. 82 00:06:34,420 --> 00:06:40,620 If you choose to buy this car, which may be a larger, heavier car, then there is an 83 00:06:40,620 --> 00:06:47,500 added €100 reflecting the environmental cost that comes with that choice being made 84 00:06:47,500 --> 00:06:49,820 in society. 85 00:06:49,820 --> 00:06:53,820 For waste management, the Commission proposes to apply the main principles of the resource 86 00:06:53,820 --> 00:06:55,540 strategy. 87 00:06:55,540 --> 00:07:01,060 For every 16 tons of resources consumed yearly by every European citizen, only 10 tons are 88 00:07:01,060 --> 00:07:06,140 transformed into durables, such as housing or infrastructure. 89 00:07:06,140 --> 00:07:11,060 The other 6 tons are lost in the form of polluting emissions or waste. 90 00:07:11,060 --> 00:07:15,540 The Commission therefore proposes measures for putting back into circulation the resources 91 00:07:15,540 --> 00:07:17,820 contained in waste streams. 92 00:07:17,820 --> 00:07:23,700 We want, through the possibilities of waste management, to contribute to the reduction 93 00:07:23,700 --> 00:07:26,300 of environmental pressure. 94 00:07:26,300 --> 00:07:33,300 That can be done, and one of our greatest targets is by making less waste to begin with 95 00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:39,100 and by using the waste that we are creating in a more efficient way. 96 00:07:39,100 --> 00:07:45,220 A main step in doing that is, of course, to improve the way and to improve the efficiency 97 00:07:45,220 --> 00:07:52,620 with which we are reusing waste in the sense of recycling or energy recovery. 98 00:07:52,620 --> 00:07:58,380 There is a huge stock of raw material in society. 99 00:07:58,380 --> 00:08:05,980 I think there's enough aluminium and steel which could be recycled to support 400 years 100 00:08:05,980 --> 00:08:07,920 of economic growth. 101 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:12,860 It's already here, it's not in the mountains, it's not in the ground, and we can recycle 102 00:08:12,860 --> 00:08:16,180 that effectively and maintain our use of that. 103 00:08:16,180 --> 00:08:21,620 For industrial waste, normally the vast majority of this waste can be recycled. 104 00:08:21,620 --> 00:08:27,340 For construction and demolition waste, it's easy to recycle up to 90, maybe 95 percent 105 00:08:27,340 --> 00:08:29,660 of the construction and demolition waste. 106 00:08:29,660 --> 00:08:34,500 The most complicated waste stream is actually the waste from households, because there's 107 00:08:34,500 --> 00:08:39,500 so many different materials, so many different products, that you have to set up a quite 108 00:08:39,500 --> 00:08:45,940 elaborate system to continue to improve recycling. 109 00:08:45,940 --> 00:08:50,180 To encourage the recovery of waste on a large scale, the European Commission proposes to 110 00:08:50,180 --> 00:08:55,500 overhaul the framework legislation on waste by introducing new measures. 111 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:59,980 First manufacturers have to be persuaded to take into account the biological cycle of 112 00:08:59,980 --> 00:09:04,180 their products, particularly for the product's end-of-life phase. 113 00:09:04,180 --> 00:09:10,100 Second, to stimulate the development of a genuine European recycling market, the Commission 114 00:09:10,100 --> 00:09:16,300 wants to introduce minimum standards for recycled products and for recycling installations. 115 00:09:16,300 --> 00:09:20,140 And finally, the flow of waste needs to be reduced, so Member States will be asked to 116 00:09:20,140 --> 00:09:25,900 put in place national prevention strategies. 117 00:09:25,900 --> 00:09:29,660 The Member States will be able to go even further in that direction, for example by 118 00:09:29,660 --> 00:09:33,660 using financial instruments. 119 00:09:33,660 --> 00:09:39,020 If landfilling is the option which is most used, one of the obvious things to do is to 120 00:09:39,020 --> 00:09:40,860 make landfilling more expensive. 121 00:09:40,860 --> 00:09:46,460 If landfilling is more expensive, people will less be tempted to go to the landfill. 122 00:09:46,460 --> 00:09:51,980 And a number of countries have done this and have implemented landfill taxes. 123 00:09:51,980 --> 00:09:57,060 And this proves to be a very effective way of reducing the amount of waste going to landfills, 124 00:09:57,060 --> 00:10:04,260 because it immediately makes all the other alternatives more attractive economically. 125 00:10:04,260 --> 00:10:09,700 Recycling a tonne of steel takes fewer resources, consumes less energy and causes less pollution 126 00:10:09,700 --> 00:10:13,340 than manufacturing a tonne of steel from iron ore. 127 00:10:13,340 --> 00:10:17,900 The Commission wants to transform Europe into what would be called a recycling economy, 128 00:10:17,900 --> 00:10:23,100 a society where nothing goes to waste and where everything is recreated, a society which 129 00:10:23,100 --> 00:10:28,460 nurtures growth by using resources rationally and polluting as little as possible. 130 00:10:28,460 --> 00:10:34,780 It gives itself 25 years, one generation, to achieve that objective. 131 00:10:34,780 --> 00:10:44,300 The strategies gives us a framework we need in order to use our natural resources on a 132 00:10:44,300 --> 00:10:51,300 sustainable footing and reducing its environmental impact. 133 00:10:51,300 --> 00:10:59,380 They will also strengthen our efforts to prevent waste and to move us to a recycling society 134 00:10:59,380 --> 00:11:01,460 for the waste that cannot be avoided.