Herwin
Herw!n
Belangenbehartiging voor sociale circulaire ondernemers is de voornaamste reden waarom wij contact hebben met het Europees Parlement.
ID: 498450736205-06
Lobbying Activity
Response to A new Circular Economy Action Plan
17 Jan 2020
HERW!N is the collective of social and circular entreprises in Flanders, Belgium. We represent 100 social profit entreprises which through social employment are engaged in a wide range of circular business activities, including leasing, reuse and repair activities, upcycling… Notable examples, are e.g. De Kringwinkels - a network of 145 second hand shops across Flanders - which are engaged in the reuse and repair of a wide range of products such as textiles, furniture, electronic devices; our foodsavers which prevent foodwaste through the collection, processing and redistribution of waste streams from e.g. supermarktes; or our members which are involved in (public) bicycle leasing schemes for public and private authorities.
To facilitate and speed up the transition towards a European circular economy, we strongly encourage the European Union to take the following initiatives:
- Establish ambitious reuse targets at the EU level, which apply to all member states. At present, the Flemish government has a non-binding reuse target of 7kg/citizen, though, we are convinced that an EU target should even exceed this ambitious Flemish target. In our opinion and experience, a reuse target of 10kg/citizen is feasible within an enabling legal and political framework. Such enabling framework includes, amongst others, political initiatives to achieve extended producers reliability (e.g. EPR schemes). Such new to develop EPR schemes (e.g. for other types of goods such as textiles or furniture) should include specific reuse and prepare for reuse targets, combined with financial incitives for all actors involved in the collection and processessing of these goods.
- Green fiscal policy: we strongly encourage the EU to take further initiaves to develop fiscal incivites which accelarate the transition to a circular economy. Measures should include, amongst other, higher import tariffs for virgin material (i.e. new resources), reduced VAT tariffs for circular business acitivities such as reuse and repair…
- Financial impetus for social profit SMEs and social entreprises: the transition towards a full blown Europan circular economy requires financial investments. At present socials SMEs and social entreprises might face difficulties in securing investments for their (new) circular business models. Additional focus for this entreprises in e.g. the investment portfolio of the EIB could greatly enhance their ability to innovate and accelarte the transition to a circular economy. Also other financial incentives to e.g. facilitate the collaboration between social profit and profit entreprises have great potential for a greener and more circular European economy.
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