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Circular economy, resource efficiency, and green chemistry
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KICK-OFF STAKEHOLDERS MEETING ON THE “CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND NEW GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES” COMPONENT

The kick-off stakeholders meeting on the “Circular Economy and New Growth Opportunities” component of the EU4Environment Action in Ukraine took place on 25 February 2021. The online event was targeted on presenting the progress made during 2019-2020 and on introducing the plans for the future.

The event was organized by the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Centre with the support of UNIDO as part of the implementation of the EU-funded EU4Environment program.

The online event began with the short welcome addresses delivered by the representatives of the Ukrainian ministries, the EU Delegation and UNIDO.

Victoria Kovalenko (the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine) noted that “The symbiosis of resource efficiency and circular economy will allow enterprises to accelerate the transition to a “green” economy and will ensure the implementation of mechanisms for better managing the environmental risks.

Olena Koltyk held a welcome address on behalf of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. She reported, “Circular economy is designed to return all resources from the production process back into the cycle with generating minimum waste”. Olena also informed that the Ministry has already developed the Law of Ukraine #22071-d, which should introduce the European approach to waste management in Ukraine.

Chloé Allio (the European Union Delegation to Ukraine) mentioned in her speech that “In March 2020 the European Commission adopted the Circular Economy Action Plan, which is one of the building blocks of the European Green Deal”. The goal of the Action plan is ensuring that the resources are used and kept in the economy cycle as long as possible.

Tatiana Chernyavskaya (UNIDO) concluded the block with welcome addresses. She noted that “UNIDO focuses its efforts directly on promoting more efficient use of resources, increasing productivity and reducing the impact of manufacturing industries on the environment. The key task of our work in Ukraine is promoting best practices of resource saving, as well as enabling the development of circular economy and its integration into the national economy to support industries”.

Afterwards, Olena Masliukivska, National Action Coordinator of the EU4Environment Action in Ukraine informed all the participants about the EU4Environment program, which was designed to achieve five outcomes:
– Greener decision making (UNEP & UNECE)
– Circular economy & new growth opportunities (UNEP and UNIDO)
– Environmental level playing field (OECD)
– Ecosystem service & livelihoods (World Bank, joined in 2021)
– Monitoring progress at environment-economy nexus (OECD).
Olena Masliukivska also reported on the achieved results of the EU4Environment Action.

Then Andrii Vorfolomeiev, Director of the Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production Centre in Ukraine picked up the floor and went into details regarding “Circular Economy and New Growth Opportunities” component and introduced the interim results in Ukraine. He mentioned the development of business cases of Ukrainian enterprises as part of the EU4Environment program. These enterprises have already implemented resource efficiency measures and are ready to share their own experiences and become an good example for other businesses. Andrii Vorfolomeiev also outlined the next steps and plans to implement the “Circle Economy and New Growth Opportunities” component in Ukraine and the creation of a national RECp network.

Ivan Omelchuk, the RECP Club facilitator (RECP Centre), presented the activities of RECP Clubs in Khmelnytskyi and Poltava oblasts. Enterprises were eager to participate in the training modules, showed interest towards RECP methodology, and taught their enterprises to consume resources rationally and save their own money.

In this block representatives of enterprises that are being the participants of the RECP Clubs and organizations that contributed to the activities of the Clubs in the above areas shared their own impressions and expressed gratitude to the RECP Centre experts. The first speaker Igor Yavdosiuk (Chap-Chap LLC., director) shared his own personal story when he pulled together his desire and will and followed the example of his colleague from Bulgaria. He introduced RECP concept and implemented RECP measures in his company. As for the future, he also plans to purchase a textile and rubber recycling machine (which is, in fact, a waste product in the company), which will make his production zero waste.

Roman Bovkun (Teplotema LLC., director) informed that his company was familiar with energy efficiency, but some things were left unnoticed. The RECP technical helped them optimize the compressed air system, for which they were very grateful. This year the company plans to enter the European market with its own products and the issue of competitiveness and compliance with European requirements is extremely important.

Kateryna Savchuk (Regional Development Agency in Khmelnytskyi Oblast) and Stanislav Boiko (RES Laboratory at Poltava State Agrarian University) pointed out that the RECP Centre experts’ approach to the Clubs activities was professional and systematic. Participants of the Clubs got acquainted with new partners, learned about production problems and shared their own experience in solving them.

In his presentation, Alastair Carruth, circular economy expert of SWECO (Sweden) introduced the creation of growth opportunities related to the circular economy, the process of waste mapping and how this is done in European countries.

The event attended over 160 participants, 67% were women.

* The online event was organized within the frame of EU4Environment Programme funded by the European Union and implemented by a consortium of international partners, including OECD, UNIDO, UN Environment, UNECE and the World Bank.