On 31 May 2016 the JBCE environment committee welcomed Carsten Wachholz, Senior Policy Officer Resource Conservation and Product Policy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB). In his presentation Mr Wachholz first provided member companies with an overview about the EEB’s organisation and membership, as well as its mission and way of working at the EU level and the member state level. He also highlighted cooperation between the EEB and other environmental NGOs, most notably in the Green 10 network. Mr Wacholz then described and explained briefly the EEB work programme, which includes climate & energy, industry & health (including chemicals), water, and the broad area of circular economy, resource conservation, and waste and product policy.
In the second part of the presentation Mr Wachholz described the EEB’s priorities for a sustainable circular economy, which include inter alia product lifetime and eco-design, use of hazardous substances, recycling targets, and economic incentives relating to the demand side. The environment committee then heard about the EEB’s assessment of the European Commission’s 2015 circular economy package and the related legislative proposals and action plan. After the presentation Mr Wachholz and environment committee members engaged in an active question & answer session, which saw a broad range of issues covered, including, notably, the relationship between hazardous chemicals and the recycling and re-use of materials.