{"id":469561,"date":"2026-10-28T19:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T18:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/10\/28\/cese-il-riciclaggio-rende-leconomia-ue-meno-vulnerabile\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T19:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T18:42:21","slug":"eesc-recycling-makes-the-eu-economy-less-vulnerable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/10\/28\/eesc-recycling-makes-the-eu-economy-less-vulnerable\/","title":{"rendered":"EESC: “Recycling makes the EU economy less vulnerable”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The circular economy is not just about helping the planet; it can also become a driving force for European competitiveness. This was highlighted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in an <\/a>opinion<\/a> <\/span><\/span>drafted during the October plenary session. Drafted by the rapporteur, Mihaela Adelina Dabu<\/strong>, and the co-rapporteur, Srita Heide<\/strong>, the text argues that \u201can economic model based on recycling, reuse, repair, and the efficient use of resources can reduce the EU\u2019s dependence on external suppliers<\/strong>, strengthen industrial resilience and make the European economy less vulnerable to disruptions in global supply chains\u201d. To achieve such a transformation, \u201ca workforce equipped with the skills needed to develop and implement circular practices across different sectors\u201d is required, the EESC warned.<\/p>\n

According to a report<\/a> on resource use and the economic costs of waste <\/span><\/span>carried out by the non-profit organisation Circle Economy and Deloitte, raw materials account for a significant proportion of European industrial costs, \u201cleaving businesses particularly vulnerable to the inefficiencies of the traditional model based on extraction, production, and disposal.\u201d The research also highlights that \u201cavoidable value losses linked to the linear use of materials amount to 25,400 billion euros per year worldwide, equivalent to almost a third of global GDP. <\/strong>\u201dThe Committee therefore noted that \u201cthese losses represent a significant economic value that could potentially be preserved or recovered through more efficient use of resources and circular practices, with considerable benefits for the economy\u201d.<\/div>\n

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With regard to employment, the opinion states that \u201cthe circular economy also represents an important source of employment, with around 4.3 million people already employed<\/b> in related sectors across the Union.\u201d To capitalise on these opportunities, the EESC called in its opinion for the principles and skills of the circular economy to be integrated at all levels of education, from schools through vocational training to universities. The Committee has therefore urged the European Commission and the Member States to \u201creduce bureaucratic barriers to training by providing businesses with modular, ready-to-use training programmes.\u201d To facilitate participation, particularly by smaller businesses, the Committee proposed the establishment of \u201cnational voucher schemes to fund continuing training,\u201d calling for \u201cskills related to the circular economy be integrated into future EU funding programmes, in particular the European Social Fund Plus and the European Competitiveness Fund.\u201d<\/div>\n

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In this regard, Dabu stated that \u201cskills in the circular economy can become a driver of competitiveness if training is made accessible through ready-to-use educational programmes, recognised and transferable qualifications, and straightforward funding, such as vouchers,\u201d he added. Similarly, Heide stated that \u201cbuilding a circular economy means not only transforming our industries, but also providing the people driving this transformation with the necessary tools.\u201d<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to an opinion adopted by the European Economic and Social Committee, avoidable losses in value resulting from the linear use of materials amount to \u20ac25,400 billion worldwide each year, equivalent to almost a third of global GDP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":469552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[35503,25705],"tags":[25871,25799,25847,36413],"class_list":["post-469561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ambiente","category-business","tag-economy-circular-en","tag-eesc-en","tag-riciclaggio-rifiuti"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469562,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469561\/revisions\/469562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}