The Circular Economy is focused on a change of producer and consumer behaviour – it changes the process of product development from the design phase, through product use to product disposal. The Circular Economy completely changes the general concept of “waste” – at the end of the product’s life the “waste” becomes highly important as a source material for other production. Production processes, technologies and resource efficiency are optimised and the whole production process is a ‘closed loop’ where secondary materials are used as a source for production
The EU circular economy package is called “Closing the loop – action plan towards a circular economy”. The action plan proposes deadlines for compliance and includes proposals for amendments to the directives on packaging and packaging waste, landfill waste, and waste batteries.