If a loaf of bread goes stale you throw it in the bin, but where does it go from there? In a linear economy it goes into landfills - large spaces dedicated to excess waste. The European Parliament wants to move towards a circular economy model. Companies like Jaw Brew turn stale bread into beer. Better waste management and resource productivity yields more positive results for the economy and environment.

food safety

economic policy

Environment

Circular economy: The space we waste

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/11407915/B001-ESN-130317-EN.srt

has substantially increased  in the past years

Still today, most of it  is being landfilled.

A huge quantity of the food  produced in the EU is lost or wasted,

both throughout the industrial chain  and municipal waste,

which includes households,  shops, and supermarkets.

40% of the bread produced  is thrown away.

It is time to limit landfill  to the minimum

and move waste practices  towards better alternatives.

At the Ellen MacArthur Foundation,  primarily what we do

is provide the quantification of the  potential for a circular economy.  

So we look at the   advantages for businesses,

The issue of landfill is the symptom  of the linear model.

things that do not fit  absolutely anywhere,

and they have to be buried,  and frankly it should make us think,

when most of the stuff  needs to be buried somewhere

without any hope of ever becoming  valuable materials again? 

The European Parliament Committee  on Environment recently voted

to amend a European Commission  proposal on waste management

by increasing the recycling rate,  limiting landfill to 5%

and reducing  half the food waste by 2030.

The objectives that we have set  in this package

There will undoubtedly be  investments to be made

investments in both  waste disposal facilities,

but also in technology  and innovation,

to allow the new products  to have a different use.

It is also true that if  an initial investment is made,

The fascinating thing about the  circular economy is the numbers.

From the beginning  when we created the Foundation,

we started looking at the  economic rationale for this model.

We know the basic concept of  a circular economy makes sense

if you can design to recover  the material, components,

and valorize everything to  its highest level at all times.

but you have to look at the  economics. That's what we did,

and we have proven time  and time again with the reports

that there is economic rationale  for a circular economy

in excess of that  of a linear economy.

We were approached  by a local baker called Alts,

It is the circular economy  that we are looking at.

Our brewer Alick  took about six months

Absolutely, we can   deliver into Glasgow.    

We actually transform  bread into beer.

The first beer was made from bread  thousands of years ago.

Beer is basically made by steeping  malted grain in warm water.

We add the bread, the morning rolls  to the malted barley,

and what this does is add  texture and body to the beer.

The beer is actually  quite interesting,

because it has the normal  characteristics of a blonde beer,

but there is an unusual texture  and flavor to it. It is quite enticing.

What we are doing here is using food  that is technically classified as waste,

but rather than throwing it away  we are making it into food again.

we are going to end up  using all the wasted bread

and eventually putting ourselves  out of business in this industry,

because there will be  no more bread to turn into beer,

We are at the start of a journey here,  so we'll see how it goes.

There seems to be  a really strong consensus

private sector, public sector,  economists, NGOs.

The circular economy,  as a goal to work towards,

seems to be inspiring  most of the stakeholders.

I hope that it is clear to everyone  that the circular economy

plays a major part in the industrial  development of our continent.

It should be clear  to the Member States

that we cannot lower  this level of ambition.