Based on analysis by the IEEP, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Ifremer, IEEP’s Patrick ten Brink presented a policy briefing urging G20 countries to take action on marine litter by adopting circular economy measures. The briefing was presented at the special session on the circular economy at the G20’s think tank summit, T20 Global Solutions in Berlin, Germany. He also shared results of briefings by the other Circular Economy Task Force co-chairs (CEPS & Green Alliance), underlining the importance of transparency, product design, reparability, infrastructure investment, and economic incentives. The session, which included speakers from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, IEEP, UNIDO and the company Werner Mertz, explored what measures are needed to catalyse a transition from a linear to a circular model and what G20 leaders could do to accelerate the needed system change and respond to both the urgency for, and opportunities from, action.

1. www.ieep.eu
@IEEP_eu
Circular Economy Task Force
Three Task Force Papers: Key Issues & Recommendations
Patrick ten Brink
Director IEEP-Brussels & Head of the Green Economy Programme
Think 20: Circular Economy Session
14:45–15:35
Auditorium 2, Floor 2
Monday 29 May 2017
Berlin

2. The Circular Economy – A Necessity and Opportunity
1. The contribution G20 governments can make to support the circular economy
V Rizos, A Behrens, D Rinaldi, and E Drabik (CEPS)
2. Better Products By Design
D Benton and S Wilson (Green Alliance)
3. Circular economy measures to keep plastics and their value in the economy, avoid
waste and reduce marine litter
P ten Brink, JP Schweitzer, Emma Watkins (IEEP), M De Smet (EMF), H Leslie (VUA), F Galgani
(IFREMER), with thanks also to T Glaz (Werner Mertz) and J Blériot (HMF)
Three Task Force Papers: Complementary Visions
How can G20 catalyse the transition to a circular economy, using innovation to
conserve resources and address environmental challenges, while realising major
economic and employment opportunities?

3. The contribution G20 governments can make to support the circular
economy
V Rizos, A Behrens, D Rinaldi, and E Drabik (CEPS)
• The G20 should collaboratively work towards agreed terminologies for
products and processes relevant to the circular economy (e.g.
remanufacturing, refurbishment, product life extension, reparability,
reusability, etc.).
• On the basis of an agreed framework of terminologies, the G20 should
develop and use a common framework of indicators to monitor the
performance of countries and companies worldwide.
• G20 governments should use public procurement to support the demand
for circular products and services, thereby taking into account the benefits
occurring during the lifetime of products or services.
• G20 governments should support transparency across global supply chains
regarding the origins and content of circular products and materials (e.g.
through supporting the development of standards and business-to-business
labels).

4. Better Products By Design
D Benton and S Wilson (Green Alliance)
• Rising demand means that it makes economic sense to get as much value as possible
out of natural resources and avoid value being lost as waste.
• This also helps consumers, who at the moment often get products that don’t last as
long as they should, which is a huge waste of money and resources.
• The analysis of three products - smartphones, washing machines, solar panels -
reveals how simple problems that frustrate consumers and waste resources could be
fixed with product standards for reparability and durability.
• Solutions via market rules that keep manufacturers competing over quality.
• Leading economies should set ecodesign standards to deliver better products. The
G20 can build on its approach to Energy Efficiency to promote resource efficiency and
the circular economy, including measures to encourage better design.
Proposal 1
Create a G20 dialogue on resource efficiency: Developing a G20 Resource Efficiency Action Plan
Proposal 2
Promote better products by design - Including exchanges on ecodesign principles within a G20
Resource Efficiency Action Plan

5. Circular economy measures to keep plastics and their value in the
economy, avoid waste & reduce marine litter
P ten Brink, JP Schweitzer, Emma Watkins (IEEP), M De Smet (EMF), H Leslie (VUA), F Galgani (IFREMER), with
thanks also to T Glaz (Werner Mertz) and J Blériot (HMF)
• We live in the plastic age (the “plasticene”), producing over 300mt of plastic every
year globally, 5-15 mt of which flow into already polluted oceans.
Seven of the G20 countries were amongst the top twenty contributors to marine
litter ranked by mismanaged plastic waste in 2010 (Jambeck et al., 2015).
• Plastic remains a key material in the global economy, but low rates of collection,
reuse and recycling, emissions of microplastic from product wear and tear, and
often insufficient disposal measures are leading to far-reaching environmental,
health, social and economic impacts.
• The costs of inaction are unacceptably high. Globally there is a growing recognition
of the need to address marine litter and rethink our approach to plastics and plastic
packaging within the economy.
• Measures that enable a transition to a circular economy can avoid waste & reduce
marine litter, & contribute to keeping plastics & their value in the economy.

6. ECONOMY Plastic producers & converters
(inc. Packaging)
Sectors using plastic e.g.
intermediate and final consumption
Food and Drink
Cosmetics and personal care products
Textiles and Clothing
Agriculture; Fisheries & Aquaculture
Construction
Terrestrial transport; Shipping
Tourism
SOCIETY & its INSTITUTIONS
WASTE & WASTE
WATER
MANAGEMENT
Final consumption by citizens
~300mt/yr
Recyclers
MARINE ENVIRONMENT
TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT
Goods Services
e.g. accidental
releases
Landfill
Coast,surfacewaters,watercolumn,seabed,ingestionbyspecies
Reuse, repair,
remanufacture,
recycle
RETAIL
Reuse
e.g. microbeads in
products;
accidental releases;
plastic blasting;
degradation of buoys;
loss of nets
e.g. loss of packaging;
tyre wear; accidental
releases
e.g. windblown waste
from landfills
e.g. litter washed into stormwater
drains; microfibres; microbeads;
bio-filters
e.g. littering; deliberate/illegal
waste disposal
Raw material inputs: fossil fuels and agricultural material for bioplastics
Plastics, the Circular Economy and Marine Litter

7. The G20 should help catalyse the move to a circular economy for plastics,
to keep this material and its value in the economy, via:
A. A global impetus for action on plastics and marine litter
The G20 should support the implementation of existing global commitments on
marine litter
B. Circular economy as a framework for change across governance levels:
The G20 should promote the transition to a circular economy in order to create a
plastics system that works in the long term, with enhanced system effectiveness,
increased resource productivity and drastically reduced marine litter.
C. Developing and committing to a global roadmap for action on plastics and
marine litter
The G20 should advocate for a global roadmap for action to address the life cycle of
plastics and effectively valorise plastics in the economy whilst mitigating their
environmental impacts.
D. Developing and committing to a global roadmap for action on plastics and
marine litter
The G20 should advocate for a global roadmap for action to address the life cycle of
plastics and effectively valorise plastics in the economy whilst mitigating their
environmental impacts.

8. G20 can and should catalyse the transition to a circular economy
For further discussions:
Patrick ten Brink, Jean-Pierre Schweitzer, and Emma Watkins of IEEP (ptenbrink@ieep.eu) Paper 3 and links of Plastic, Marine Litter and Circular Economy
Solutions
& for the two other Task Force Papers:
Vasileios Rizos of CEPS (vasileios.rizos@ceps.eu) Paper 1 and CEPS Task Force on Circular Economy
Dustin Benton and Simon Wilson of Green Alliance (SWilson@green-alliance.org.uk) Paper 2 on Product Design, and ACES: Alliance for Circular Economy
solutions
The costs of inaction are unacceptably high.
Encouraged by the opportunities offered by circular economy measures to save resources, and concerned
about the growing level of plastic in the oceans, the deterioration of water quality and impacts on biodiversity,
health, society and the economy, we call on policy makers, business communities, civil society organisations,
scientists and citizens to commit to concrete actions to catalyse a transition to a circular economy and address
the marine litter problem.
We invite them to submit an individual and joint vision for a circular economy response to marine litter,
to help keep plastic and its value in the economy and out of the oceans, and hence realise ecological, social
and economic benefits, while meeting our common commitment to SDG 14.1.