Increasing recycling rates, reducing waste generation, and strengthening the EU’s economic resilience are among the key objectives of the Circular Economy Act.
What Is the Circular Economy Act?
The European Commission is currently working on the Circular Economy Act, a legislative framework designed to support a functioning circular economy across the European Union. Its primary goal is to create a single market for secondary raw materials by increasing both the supply of and demand for high-quality recycled materials.
The underlying principle is simple: keep valuable resources in circulation for as long as possible. By extending material lifecycles, the EU aims to reduce environmental impacts, decrease dependency on imported resources, and strengthen Europe's long-term economic resilience.
At present, circular economy policies differ significantly across EU member states. The Circular Economy Act seeks to consolidate these approaches into a harmonized legal framework that promotes environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and Europe's strategic autonomy.
Implementation of the legislation is currently planned for the end of 2026.
The EU's Recycling Targets
Today, the European Union remains heavily dependent on imports of primary raw materials. Nearly all rare earth elements and many critical metals used in European industries are sourced from outside the EU.
One of the key ambitions of the Circular Economy Act is to change this by creating a strong secondary materials market and significantly increasing the use of recycled resources.
The EU has set several ambitious targets:
25% of strategic raw materials sourced from recycling, compared with less than 1% today.
A circular material use rate of 24% by 2030, up from 12.2% in 2023.
A packaging recycling rate of 70% by 2030, compared with 67.5% in 2023.
These targets are intended to reduce resource dependency while keeping valuable materials in productive use for longer.
Reducing Material Consumption
Improving recycling alone will not be enough. The EU is also focusing on reducing overall resource consumption.
Material use and waste generation per capita within the European Union remain well above the global average. In 2024, the EU's material footprint was approximately 14 tonnes per person, while waste generation reached around 5 tonnes per capita in 2022.
These figures highlight the need for a dual approach that combines higher recycling rates with lower resource consumption.
At the same time, recycled materials must become economically competitive with virgin materials. Currently, producing new materials, such as virgin PET plastic, is often cheaper than using recycled alternatives. The Circular Economy Act aims to address these market imbalances and create stronger incentives for circular business models.
Part of the European Green Deal
The Circular Economy Act is not a standalone initiative. It forms part of the European Green Deal and is closely linked to the EU's Clean Industrial Deal.
The legislation is intended to bring together existing initiatives under a common framework and support a broader strategy focused on three key objectives:
Stronger climate protection
Increased European competitiveness
Greater strategic autonomy
By aligning environmental and economic goals, the Act seeks to position circularity as a central pillar of Europe's future growth model.
Why It Matters for Rivers and Waterways
At everwave's cleanup sites, we witness the consequences of today's linear economy every day: polluted rivers, plastic waste in waterways, and large quantities of valuable materials lost to the environment.
As long as virgin materials remain cheaper than recycled alternatives, significant amounts of waste will continue to enter rivers, lakes, and oceans.
The Circular Economy Act has the potential to address this challenge by increasing recycling rates, strengthening markets for recycled materials, and reducing overall waste generation. By keeping resources in circulation and improving waste management systems, the Act could play an important role in preventing plastic pollution before it reaches rivers and waterways.
Ultimately, a successful circular economy benefits both the environment and the economy, helping to reduce pollution while building a more resilient and resource-efficient Europe.