Voldemort's Minions - What Has Been Really Going On?

There has been some development. Apparently the lobbying group BusinessEurope and its friends have been behind TTIP and in opposition to Circular Economy and Clean Air packages and some other legislation for gender equality and for pregnant women.

It makes one wonder WHY: TTIP is said to bring 1.300.000 jobs or so, the Circular Economy 2 million! But surely employers (BusinessEurope seems mainly to be an association of employers' associations) don't just look for new jobs to be created! The Circular Economy could bring BIG savings - previous European Commission has predicted up to EUR 600 billion net savings for EU businesses as well.

EEB has been fighting for the Circular Economy package, they're great, but they will probably need help. From all of us.
The Guardian (UK newspaper) is pro-circular economy too, some good articles and interviews etc. "If we don't reuse things, we are going to start running out of materials." Can material innovation save the world?" (I just worry that one of their sponsors, Veolia, is for incineration of waste also, though they seem open to people using up waste - or 'excess' creatively.) In the debate, they touch upon resistance of companies to take up new waste targets as well, as they have sales targets and other things on their plates. But isn't that just, um, being a bit shortsighted? Where are businesses with longterm VISION?

Some businesses have recognized the importance of Circular Economy, namely plastics recyclers and such.

Luckily, some smart businesses want to go green! Unilever confirms it has quit BusinessEurope lobby group. We hope for many more!

Good news: there will be WAY less plastic bags in EU in the future - we still need to fight against the evil oxo-degradable bags that collapse into thousands of mini plastic pieces. And we have until December 16th to change the opinion of the new EU Commission about Circular Economy!

What you can do: write to your country's association of employers that is part of BusinessEurope and ask them to appeal to BusinessEurope to change its ways! Specifically, to stop opposing Circular Economy and Clean Air and other good legislation proposals. Or to withdraw its membership out of it. Or to businesses that are members directly. Blog, tweet, retweet &Facebook &'like' messages about the importance of Circular Economy! We are many! Our voices CAN make a difference!

Do you have any other ideas on what could be done? :)

Has Voldemort Taken Over?

So many things are happening I don't know what to blog about first!

Ditching the EU-wide plastic bag ban because of ex Tory and a present Tory linked in what seems to be a corruption scandal seemed bad enough! The oxo-degradable bags which collapse into microplastics that never go away seem just evil!

UK, Croatia, Greece, Romania and Poland (and Denmark, Bulgaria and Slovakia?) seem to be blocking the scheme that could reduce plastic bag waste for 80% and bring savings of 740 million Euro A YEAR throughout Europe - money which could be directed into green jobs, to good environmental NGOs, charities, the disabled, for good projects!

But news on the Zero Waste Europe website seem gloom!

Does the new EU Commission under Juncker really want to destroy all good that the previous Commission has put together? CLEAN AIR and CIRCULAR ECONOMY are important! We need to be LOUD about it! On Twitter, Facebook, everywhere!!

Karmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, seems optimistic in hist first blog post - and I'm sooo glad that he invites people to European Week for Waste Reduction, for which he accepted a patronage together with his friend and colleague Vytenis Andriukaitis.
EWWR starts on 22 November, more info on their website.

But will he be able to stop the tide of bad decisions which would leave Europe behind in the 'Middle Ages' when it comes to resource efficiency and HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT?

Does Europe really wish to compete with China in deregulation and pollution?? In some cities in China, you can't see the blue sky because of all the smog!

European Commission welcomes the results of the Brisbane G20 summit saying 'The agreed results will help to put the global economy on a sustainable growth path' - are they serious about sustainability, or only focused on the 'growth' part? Sadly, they also still seem to be stuck on the evil TTIP plan too!!

On a happier note, Anonymous seized up Twitter accounts of Ku Klux Klans! I wish they could seize up all evil wrongdoings in the world! (And track out finances of ISIS and Boko Haram and give them to Oxfam instead!) It is sad that sometimes this kind of voice is the only one to be heard.

For those of us without mad hacking skills: @Surfrider Europe seems to be loudest in the rally to Ban the Bags, so join them! And EEB fights against air pollution and waste! Let's be LOUD about what we want: clean air and circular economy=less waste!