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Europe needs to step up circularity in the construction sector
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Pan European,
EU Institutions
Europe needs to step up circularity in the construction sector
The EU´s circular economy action plan aims at doubling the use of recycled materials by 2030. Moreover, the Circular Economy monitoring framework has been revised to better track the transition to a circular economy.
Giulia Leghissa
The European Environment Agency (EEA) has assessed that Europe needs to speed up the use of recycled materials and reduce waste. In 2021 about 11.7% of all materials used in the EU came from recycled waste. Enhancing recycling even more together with a minor usage of materials in general will speed up this process.
Particular attention must be paid to construction materials, such as non-metallic materials, which represent about half of all materials used in the EU, and to materials having a negative impact in their production, such as fossil fuel and biomass.
Waste prevention is also important to reach a circular economy. However, there is still a gap between waste prevention policies and waste generation in the EU.
