On 29 May, the La Poste group hosted a series of Circular Economy Meetings held by the Regional Agency for the Environment and New Energies (ARENE), and the energy and climate department of the Greater Paris Urban Planning and Development Agency (Greater Paris region IAU). This institute, which acts as an urban planning agency, presented its recent work in this area, as well as initial regional strategies for promoting the circular economy around Paris.
The circular economy aims to become a long-term model by fundamentally re-imagining modes of production, consumption and trade by means of eco-design, sharing, repair, re-use, and recycling in renewed cooperation with all actors. The linear model of “produce, consume, discard” is running up against the exhaustion of the planet’s resources. We need to shift to a new kind of economy, one where we consume carefully, our products last longer, we limit waste, and we are able to turn our waste into new resources.
An audience of around 100 attendees (50% of whom came from business and over 20% of whom came from regional or municipal public bodies) listened to panels and debates on several topics: How can municipalities take action now? What levers and skills can they activate? How can economic actors and citizens be mobilised?
Muriel Barnéoud, Social Responsibility Director at the La Poste group, spoke about how to create and drive regional ecosystems. Around 15 other experts and speakers also presented their points of view and explained the initiatives taken by various actors of the circular economy in the Greater Paris region.
All these initiatives support the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition’s climate plan, one main objective of which is to halve the quantity of waste sent to landfills and move to 100% recycled plastic by 2025.