EU Green Week Reflections

By Iain Gulland, Chief Executive of Zero Waste Scotland 

We have a finite amount of materials on this planet, but what we have in abundance is ideas. 

This thought was again at the forefront of my mind throughout this year’s EU Green Week in Brussels. 

Following on from our session at All Energy in Glasgow in May - where we highlighted that adopting circularity practices is crucial to both reducing the pressure on the primary supply of critical materials and building resilience into our future industrial supply base - the conversations in Brussels reinforced just how central this shift to circularity has become to Europe’s economic future as well. 

Alongside colleagues from Zero Waste Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, I joined a roundtable to share our experiences and address common challenges around the accessibility of critical materials. What became clear is that Europe’s path to net zero, as well as our own, won’t be built solely on new technologies or raw materials; - it will be shaped by how creatively we use what we already have. 

Across the EU, circularity is now being framed not just as an environmental imperative, but as a strategic necessity. The forthcoming EU Circular Economy Act aims to simplify and harmonise waste and recycling policy across member states, accelerating recycling infrastructure and securing a more consistent supply of materials for EU-wide deployment. This is being driven by a desire for greater self-sufficiency in the face of ongoing geopolitical instability and the rising costs of imported materials, as much as the environmental benefits of tackling climate change and avoiding biodiversity loss. 

There was a strong emphasis on industrial-scale recycling, particularly of critical raw materials, with many local and regional economic agencies actively seeking opportunities to develop new recycling and reprocessing infrastructure. But the circular economy is not just about recycling more - it’s about rethinking how we design, use, and value materials across their entire lifecycle. 

If we focus only on recycling, we risk missing the bigger opportunity to reduce demand at source through better design, reuse, and remanufacturing. All of these solutions reduce further supply chain costs and access challenges, as well as mitigating increasing environmental pressures like deforestation, water scarcity, pollution, and climate emissions. 

This is the basic principle of the circular economy. As a society, we must rewire our economy to value goods and materials so that we can use less, use for longer, and use again. We must create the conditions in which circular businesses are supported to grow and thrive and evolve a society in which it’s easy and accessible for people to engage with sustainable behaviours. 

As was our message at All Energy, our roundtable in Brussels focused on the unique opportunity we all have to enhance our own energy security by championing a circular economy - by reducing waste; designing for reuse, refurbishment, and repair; and, crucially, making use of the valuable assets left over from our fossil fuel legacy. 

Like Scotland, Europe can be a leader in the energy transition, but to do so we must reconsider what we see as waste and unlock the full potential of the materials, innovation, and opportunities within our industries and communities. 

Circular thinking needs to be central to every stage of infrastructure planning, from how we design new energy assets to how we decommission old ones. This demands new thinking and cooperation across the supply chain, exploring solutions that disrupt the norm and yield new and exciting opportunities for business. 

A circular economy is a resilient economy. The journey towards net zero will not only challenge our technology and our resources, but also our creativity. We have the potential to reframe the way we see waste and find solutions that place value on the assets we have available to us as we enter a new age of energy - one in which our planet’s finite resources are respected, and our workforce is empowered to innovate. 

With this new approach, the abundance of ideas will flourish. But to realise this potential, we must shift the narrative beyond recycling and towards real-time reduction in material consumption through design, innovation, and a bold reimagining of our economic model. 

This is not just Scotland’s opportunity - it’s a global one too.