The Secretary of State for the Environment, María García Rodríguez, stressed today in Logroño, coinciding with World Recycling Day, that the development of the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy, on which the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment is already working, will be key to adopting a more sustainable production model.
This was pointed out at the inauguration of the Circular Economy Laboratory (“The Circular Lab”), a project promoted by Ecoembes in the capital of La Rioja that seeks to promote lines of innovation in the field of packaging and its subsequent recycling.
The event, chaired by the president of La Rioja, José Ignacio Ceniceros, was also attended by the mayor of Logroño, Concepción Gamarra Ruíz-Clavijo; the Director General for the Environment of the European Commission, Daniel Calleja; and the president of Ecoembes, Ignacio González, among others.
The Secretary of State stressed in her speech that the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy will be in line with the Package of Measures and the Action Plan presented by the European Commission in December 2015 and will adapt the European proposals to Spain. “It will be prepared in collaboration with all the competent Administrations, the productive sectors and will seek the involvement of citizens,” he assured.
STRATEGY THAT WILL INCLUDE ALL SECTORS
Within the framework of this collaboration, a working group has been set up with the Autonomous Communities and the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces. In addition, the Circular Economy financing group is underway and, and in the short term, an inter-ministerial group will be set up to also work on its preparation.
In addition, a process of active participation will be developed so that all the agents involved (NGOs, business and trade union organisations, consumers and users) can contribute their vision and experiences to the contents of the Strategy. In this participatory process, a High-Level Conference is planned, in which experts and agents involved will participate.
The Secretary of State for the Environment pointed out that “betting on the circular economy model is not only about managing waste; it is necessary, above all, efficiency in the use of material resources, in which we have also advanced”.
A NEW, MORE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION MODEL
The Spanish Circular Economy Strategy on which the Ministry is working will devote special attention to horizontal lines of action, such as those aimed at promoting, among others, technological innovation in production processes, green public procurement, the use of the European Ecolabel or the Community Eco-Management and Audit System (EMAS).
It will also promote eco-design as a basic element of the circular economy, in which the product is conceived to facilitate its reuse, recycling and reduce the danger of its components, once its useful life has ended.
The aim is to change the current linear economic model (extract-manufacture-consume-discard) and move towards a circular one, in which resources remain in the production cycle for a long time, with minimal waste generation and with the maximum use of what is produced.
