Good morning ladies and gentlemen, good morning ladies and gentleman,
It is great to be here today to look together at the future of the circular economy and how to better ensure the EU's energy and material security.
Dear Madam President of FEAD, Dear Chair of the Environment Committee of the Czech Parliament, Dear guests from the EU, Dear Deputy Ministers, Dear colleagues from FEAD, Dear audience, welcome to the third edition of the conference "GREATER ENERGY AND MATERIAL SECURITY IN EU COUNTRIES", organised by the CEAObH.
In 2016, when we founded CAObH, our main goal was to define ourselves against the current practices in the Czech Republic, where most of the waste ends up in landfills. Our first goal was to prepare and then pass a new modern waste law that would move the Czech Republic towards a circular economy. It was a great achievement that the new law was adopted, but at the same time that 80% of the amendments prepared by the CABH were incorporated into the law.
However, at that time our members were mainly waste management companies that were involved in waste collection and collection. But already at that time, these companies were pioneers in the energy recovery of waste, which was not very popular in the Czech Republic in those years, and the biological recovery of waste through composting technologies. Material recovery was at the very beginning.
It is fantastic what the CDAbH has achieved in 8 years. The dreams of our founding fathers have come true and the association has become a focal point and link between waste and water companies, manufacturing companies, recycling and recovery companies and we are working with consumer representatives.
Our members include not only large multinational companies and medium-sized enterprises, but also universities and, very importantly, other associations and unions such as the Association of the Chemical Industry, the Steel Union, the Consumer Electronics Association, the Czech Hydrogen Platform, the Association of Battery Manufacturers and Importers, the Czech Society for Quality and, last but not least, the authorised packaging company EKOKOM.
By leveraging this, our association succeeds in promoting the circular economy at various levels.
In the manifesto that we approved at the Executive Committee meeting in June this year, we jointly subscribed to 3 fundamental principles of the EU economy, which are
- Sustainability
- Competitiveness
- Circularity
If we look to the future, the circular economy is no longer content with the closing of circles that you have seen in my previous slides, but we need to implement new models of thinking and doing business. The winged Thinking out of the box must be reflected in everyday reality.
Let me present 5 models :
The first model is the Circular Supply Chain - only recycled or biodegradable inputs will be used throughout the chain. This can be a clear competitive advantage for companies entering this community. Recent marketing research shows that 61% of customers are less likely to buy certain products from a company they find does not take its environmental responsibilities seriously , and 49% are prepared to pay more for products if they are confident they are produced in an environmentally friendly way.
The second model is Resource Recycling - nothing new, you might argue, already underway. I am not convinced at all. The deployment of truly modern technologies that would prepare raw material for producers in the quality of natural resources is still hampered by cheap landfilling, entrenched practices, cheap raw materials, unfair waste practices and generally very low prices for waste disposal in general.
The third model is an appeal to both the manufacturer and the consumer to extend the lifetime of the product by using it for other options. We have had a long tradition of this in the country and our "flea markets", bazaars, second-hand goods exchanges and other tools have been renowned. Added to these are sharing centres and services, community centres, food banks and more. What is missing here, however, is the broader involvement of productive enterprises.
And the fourth model is mainly for manufacturing companies. Why shouldn't they share their production capacities, meaning machinery and equipment, means of transport and production facilities ? A truck that only runs for 8 hours or a production hall that is only used for 1 shift cannot be economically sustainable.Of course we are facing a shortage of human resources here, but I think with the advent of automation and robotics we will solve this problem.
The latest product-as-a-service model goes against the current - we want to own everything. We own a car that we use about 8% of its lifetime, every proper Czech owns a lot of tools and small equipment that he uses occasionally or once a year, and it will be very similar in the business sphere. Again, in my opinion, a great start up opportunity.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention. The future of the circular economy is in our hands. However, we must take charge of these changes and not be mere passengers.
Zdeněk Horsák, 1st Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee of the CAObH
