#02.08.2017 A bright future for steel: The effect of the circular economy package (CEP) on steel for packaging
By Stéphane Tondo, President of APEAL.
The Circular Economy Package (CEP) was first launched in 2015 and establishes an ambitious and credible long-term path for waste management and recycling. It envisages higher recycling targets for all packaging materials, notably 75% for ferrous metal by 2025.
Today, the CEP not only represents a great step towards achieving higher recycling rates across Europe, but also the creation of new jobs and savings for businesses that will benefit from greater resource security.
It is also an opportunity for us at APEAL to further promote understanding of the benefits of recycling steel packaging. Indeed, the proposal for a specific steel recycling target as opposed to the current legislation where there is a joint metal target, will foster greater understanding of the recycling performance of individual metals.
At the same time, we need to ensure harmonised recycling rate calculations across EU member states, which is not the case under current legislation. APEAL supports the approach to place the measurement point of recycling at the input to the final recycling process. Indeed, this point corresponds to the point of ‘real recycling’ meaning the recovered materials that are actually sent to the recycling plant.
Watch our video animation highlighting the unique benefits of steel as the ideal packaging material for a circular economy: https://www.apeal.org/videos/apeal-recycling-2016/
The animation forms part of APEAL’s overall aim to increase understanding of how the inherent properties of steel already meet the requirements of a circular economy.