Question écrite de
M. Kris PEETERS
-
Commission européenne
Subject: Funding for projects to collect and recycle plastic waste in rivers and the sea
Plastic waste does not just all too obviously damage the environment and harm health. It also has an adverse economic impact on coastal communities, tourism, shipping and fishing.
Various start-ups and long-established firms are putting great efforts into innovation in order to develop systems to collect plastic waste in rivers and the sea. The development stage was backed by subsidies from various programmes such as Horizon 2020 and LIFE. Some of these companies are now ready to proceed to trials. However it is unclear how these projects can be made economically feasible. No viable business model that would make such clean-up operations self-supporting exists: it is unlikely the income from recycling will be able to cover the costs of the clean-up work.
I am of the opinion that given the Commission’s goals for the Green Deal, it needs to develop financial support or legislative initiatives to support companies working in this sector and make this more financially profitable.
Is the Commission planning to develop any such initiatives, and if so, what are they and within what timeline?
Answer given by Ms Gabriel on behalf of the European Commission
(5 May 2020)
The Commission supports through Horizon 2020 (1) the development of environmentally sound and cost-effective solutions for the removal of plastics from water bodies, including seas and oceans. Calls in 2020 are focusing on the development of harmonised procedures for plastics pollution monitoring and assessments, the removal of marine plastic litter and actions to understand sources, pathways, distribution and impacts of plastics pollution. Plastic removal projects are eligible for technical assistance, grants and equity through the BlueInvest initiative (2).
Horizon Europe (3) proposes to support innovations with scale up potential that are too risky for private investors. It is planned to provide grants or blended finance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and industry through the European Innovation Council (4).
The new Circular Economy Action Plan (5), the EU Strategy for Plastics (6) and the directive on the impact of certain plastics on the environment (7) put in place a comprehensive approach towards a new plastics economy. This framework encourages national and regional authorities, as well as industry, to adopt key measures to curb plastic waste and littering by fostering prevention and recycling, including consumption reduction, waste collection, and economic incentives. The directive, as well as requiring bans, collection and reduction targets, makes it mandatory for Member States to ensure that producers of key single-use plastic products and fishing gear pay the costs of cleaning up, transport and treatment of resulting litter via extended producer responsibility schemes. This will therefore contribute to a market for clean-up operations, while contributing to achieve good environmental status of marine waters.
⋅1∙ The framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020).
⋅2∙ https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/frontpage/1451
⋅3∙ The next Framework programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027).
⋅4∙ European Innovation Council https://ec.europa.eu/research/eic/index.cfm
⋅5∙ The new Circular Economy Action Plan https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm
⋅6∙ European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, COM(2018) 28 final.
⋅7∙ Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the
environment, OJ L 155, 12.6.2019.