The Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, inaugurated the conference “Circular Economy: the time is now” coinciding with World Recycling Day, held at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid.

During the day, several dialogue tables on circular economy were held with the participation of leading companies and territorial, regional and local administrations, Ribera has advanced the next actions of the Government to transform the way we produce and consume and, also, how we manage our waste. 

Among these actions, the draft Law on Waste and Contaminated Soils will be sent to the Parliament, which will replace the current law of 2011 and which aims to reduce the waste we generated in 2010 by 15% by 2030; increasing our municipal waste recycling rates by 5 percentage points every 5 years from 2020; and reduce food containers and single-use plastic cups by up to 70% by 2030.

These objectives “require a profound change in waste policy. And this change must start, without a doubt, with prevention: we must be able to significantly reduce the generation of waste”, said Teresa Ribera, who added that “proper management of the waste generated is the basis of a successful circular economy model”, which is why this Law requires new separate collections as bio-waste, textiles, bulky appliances, used cooking oils and hazardous household waste.

The Vice-President ended her speech by referring to the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which includes a specific allocation of 850 million euros for investments in the circular economy, which should serve to “make up for lost time in terms of investments in waste management, but also to finance innovative business projects to introduce circularity in their production models”.

“In short, we have a new regulatory framework, we have the possibility of mobilising financing and we have companies willing to lead the change”, explained the vice-president, for whom the circular economy “is not a commitment to the future, it is already a reality whose full potential we must be able to deploy”, she concluded.